Steel Products Prices North America
February 10, 2015
US Steel Scrap Exports Drop 17.1% During 2014
Written by Peter Wright
In the twelve months of 2014, ferrous scrap exports totaled 15,308,000 tonnes (metric tons), down by 17.1 percent from the same period in 2013. In the single month of December scrap exports were 1,056,570 tonnes, down 21.5 percent from November.
Figure 1 shows that the three month moving average (3MMA) has been declining slightly for the last eight months and has been unusually consistent during that time. The 3MMA continued to be lower than the average in any year from 2008 through 2013. The most obvious trends so far this year has been that Taiwan and Korea have been almost mirror images of each other. Shipments to Thailand quadrupled to 477,000 tonnes in 2014 compared to 2013. Turkey’s tonnage picked up in September and October then the 3MMA declined by 12.5 percent in November and 13.1 percent in December. Year to date Turkey is down by 1.613 million tonnes or 30.8 percent. On January 22nd AMM reported that Turkey had booked about 15 cargoes so far in the month and only two were from the US. The rest were mostly from the UK and Europe as currency conversion rates directed the buyer’s interest.
