Economy
March 26, 2018
Scrap Trade: Expanding with Global GDP
Written by Peter Wright
The world’s scrap trade continues to expand as the growth of global GDP accelerates. Steel Market Update performs this analysis quarterly to help readers understand the gyrations of the global scrap market. This data is a quarter in arrears because some nations are slow to report.
In the 12 months of 2017, U.S. scrap exports increased by 18.6 percent from 2016. While that figure may seem high, scrap exports were well below the rate experienced in 2008-13. To set the scene, Figure 1 shows total scrap exports from the U.S. as reported by the U.S. Department of Commerce on the right axis together with the major destinations reported on the left axis. It shows the monthly average for the years 2004-16 and the three-month moving average for January through December 2017.
