CBFC: US Brass mill products imports and exports surged in August

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): According to the Copper and Brass Fabricators Council (CBFC), the imports of brass mill products by the US during the month of August this year have increased significantly when matched with the previous year. Also, exports registered modest rise year-on-year during the month.

August ’16 Imports

According to data, the US imports of brass mill products during August this year totaled 40.238 million lb, significantly higher by 5.5% when compared with 38.136 million lb imports registered during August 2015.

The main exporter of brass mill products to the US during July was Germany. The total imports from Germany during the month totaled 9.650 million lb. Mexico followed Germany with total exports to US amounting to 4.779 million lb. In third place was Canada. The brass mill products imports by the US from Canada totaled 3.858 million lb during the month. The other key exporters were South Korea (3.645 million lb) and Vietnam (3.007 million lb).

Imports by Product Type

Imports of all sheet, strip, plate and foil products totaled 13.374 million lb in August. All pipe and tube products imports totaled 15.639 million lb. Imports of all profiles, rods and bars totaled 7.951 million lb. Copper alloy wire imports totaled 3.274 million lb.

August ’16 Exports

In accordance with the data released by the CBFC, the US exports of brass mill products totaled 20.864 million lb in August this year, significantly up by nearly 5% when matched with the exports of 19.893 million lb during August 2015.

The key export destination for US brass mill products during August ’16 was Mexico. The exports to Mexico totaled 8.804 million lb. The other key importers of US brass mill products during the month were Canada (5.639 million lb), China (1.178 million lb), Germany (724,332 lb) and Japan (490,781 lb).

Exports by Product Type

Exports of all sheet, strip, plate and foil products totaled 8.204 million lb in August this year. All pipe and tube products exports totaled 3.394 million lb. Exports of all profiles, rods and bars totaled 4.410 million lb. Copper alloy wire exports totaled 2.087 million lb.

Year-to-date Imports/Exports

For the first eight months of the year, US imported 313.802 million lb of brass mill products. This is 8.5% lower when compared with the imports of 343.121 million lb in the same year-ago period. Exports during the initial eight months of 2016 totaled 208.269 million lb, compared with 169.587 million lb in the same 2015 period, an increase of nearly 23%.

The CBFC noted that the export data for three months-February, March and April are likely to contain approximately 45 million pounds of products wrongly classified as copper rod and bar by importers/brokers. An inquiry has been initiated into the matter so as to remove this error from the Year-To-Date data at the earliest.

The table below provides the details of imports of brass mill products during the initial eight months of the current year.

The details of exports of brass mill products during January to August this year are as follows:-

 About CBFC

The Copper and Brass Fabricators Council is a non-profit membership trade association open to any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the fabrication or production in the United States of products made, in whole or in part, from copper or copper alloys. 

Generally, the member companies are engaged in the production of copper and copper alloy sheet and strip, rod and bar, plumbing tubing, OEM or air-conditioning tubing, wire, extrusions, shapes and profiles, forgings, and fittings.  These products are used chiefly in the automotive, construction, and electrical/electronic industries. 

There are currently nineteen member companies who produce over 80% of all copper and brass mill products produced in the United States.