Nickel Scrap Exports by the U.S. Rose 2% in 2017

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  The trade statistics published by the US Department of Commerce (DOC) suggests marginal rise in exports of nickel scrap by the country during the previous year. The monthly exports increased modestly in December 2017, upon comparison with the prior month.

The nickel scrap exports by the US totaled 2,546 tons in December 2017, significantly higher by nearly 11% when compared with the previous month. The country’s export volumes had totaled 2,300 tons in November 2017. The largest destination of exports was Canada. Almost 72% of the total exports by the US were to Canada. The imports by Canada surged higher significantly to total 1,843 tons when compared with the imports of 1,616 tons in November 2017. The exports to Hong Kong totaled around 400 tons. The other key export markets were the UK (71 tons), Sweden (66 tons) and Spain (35 tons).

The cumulative exports during the whole year 2017 totaled 29,991 tons, marginally higher by 1.8% from the exports of 29,455 tons in 2016. The exports to Canada-the primary destination, recovered during the year, which in turn led to the marginal jump in yearly iron ore export volumes. The value of exports surged higher considerably from $100.046 million in 2016 to $121.132 million in 2017.

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The largest importer of US nickel scrap during the previous year was Canada. The Canadian imports totaled 22,708 tons, representing more than three-fourths of the total US exports during the year. The imports stood higher when matched with 20,040 tons imported in 2016. The exports to Canada were valued at $92.8 million.

The second largest export market was Sweden with imports from the US totaling 1,578 tons. The exports to that country almost halved when compared with 2016. The other main importers during the year were India (1,489 tons), the UK (1,001 tons), Japan (914 tons) and Australia (547 tons).