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Mixed results for US scrap exports

United States – US exports of scrap plastics totalled 309.12 million pounds (around 140 000 tonnes) in February for an increase of 16.3% over the previous month. The total was also 1.5% higher than that for February 2015.

The weighted price of the recovered plastic exports in February 2016 was 16.94 US cents per pound – a drop of 0.4% from January and 7.5% from February 2015, according to a report in Resource Recycling.

For recovered paper, US exports amounted to 3.25 million tonnes in the first two months of this year – equivalent to a 12.4% increase over the same period in 2015. At US$ 148 per tonne, the weighted average price of these exports showed a year-on-year decline of 7.5%. The 1.59 million tonnes of ferrous scrap exported from the USA through February 2016 represented a year-to-date drop of 21.8%. At US$ 256 per tonne, the weighted average price was down 26.8% from the February 2015 level.

Meanwhile, 450.83 million pounds (approaching 205 000 tonnes) of US aluminium scrap was exported in the opening two months of 2016 for a 4% decrease compared to the corresponding period of last year. At 61 cents per pound, the average price was 18.6% lower than that for January-February last year.

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