Plunge in US steel scrap exports to Turkey and China

Turkey – In the first 10 months of this year, US ferrous scrap exports tumbled 18% to 12.035 million tonnes from 14.718 million tonnes in the same period of 2013.

Turkey remained the leading overseas outlet by far, although US shipments to this destination plummeted 29% in the opening 10 months of this year to 3.191 million tonnes from 4.466 million tonnes in the same period last year. This sizeable decline was recorded despite US exports to Turkey climbing from 369 738 tonnes in September to 417 236 tonnes in October.

Making the same January-October comparison, US shipments to Taiwan were 13% lower this year at 2.367 million tonnes while volumes dispatched to South Korea fell 21% to 1.806 million tonnes. However, the most startling statistic is the 68% slump in US exports to China – from 1.338 million tonnes in January-October 2013 to just 423 459 tonnes in the first 10 months of 2014.

To all destinations, US ferrous scrap exports jumped from 1.053 million tonnes in September this year to 1.239 million tonnes the following month.