According to official trade data from the U.S. Commerce Department, year-to-date U.S. ferrous scrap exports (excluding stainless steel and alloy steel scrap) increased 27 percent year-on-year through July 2018 to nearly 9.3 million metric tons.
Including stainless and alloy steel scrap, U.S. ferrous scrap exports were up 26 percent to more than 10 million metric tons. The largest net market gains in total U.S. ferrous scrap exports this year were as follows (numbers rounded to the nearest 1,000):
- Turkey (+396,000 tons)
- Egypt (+290,000 tons)
- Taiwan (+250,000 tons)
- Malaysia (+210,000 tons)
- India (+210,00 tons)
- Bangladesh (+186,000 tons)
- Vietnam (+170,000 tons)
- Indonesia (+168,000 tons)
- Canada (+160,000 tons)
- Mexico (+148,000 tons)
In contrast, U.S. imports of ferrous scrap (excluding stainless alloy steel scrap) were up a mere 0.01% to 2.325 million metric tons. As a result, the United States remains a large net exporter of ferrous scrap and continues to be the world’s leading exporter of ferrous scrap. Here’s the recent trend monthly trend in U.S. ferrous scrap imports and exports, both including and excluding stainless and alloy steel scrap, according to the U.S Commerce Dept. Commerce Department trade data:
SPAN