The USA, world’s largest ferrous scrap exporter witnessed a rise in its ferrous scrap exports by 18% m-o-m in May ’20. The country exported 1.39 mn t in May ’20 as against 1.17 mn t a month back in Apr ’20, according to stats data maintained with SteelMint. Scrap Exports moved up due to increased shipments to Turkey and Bangladesh.
Similarly, on a yearly basis, exports have declined by 18% y-o-y from 1.69 mn t registered during the same month in the previous year.
Turkey, the largest buyer of USA origin scrap witnessed 21% of share in total scrap exported by the USA in May ’20. The country exported 0.29 mn t of scrap to Turkey , up by 21% in comparison to 0.24 mn t in Apr ’20. Meanwhile, on a y-o-y basis, export volume decreased by 12% y-oy from 0.34 mn t to Turkey in May ’19.
Other major importers such as Bangladesh and Taiwan imported 0.27 mn t and 0.14 mn t in May ’20 respectively. Bangladesh observed scrap imports from USA sharply rise by 162% m-o-m.
The country’s other steel products like coal, finished flat and long steel exports fell in May ’20, while exports of iron ore have risen in May ’20, as per recent data released by the customs department.
Iron Ore: Iron ore exports from USA witnessed at 1.46 mn t. The exports depicted 27% rise on a monthly basis as against 1.15 mn t in Apr ’20. On a yearly basis, exports picked 15% as compared to 1.27 mn t in May ’19.
Canada stood the major importer accounting for 60% of total imports for the month at 0.87 mn t, up 12% as against 0.78 mn t in Apr ’20. Japan marked the second-largest importer at 0.42 mn t followed by Slovakia imported at 0.17 mn t of iron ore.
Coal: Seaborne coal exports from the United States had plunged to a multi-month low at 7.25 (mn t) in May ‘20, according to the country’s latest customs data. It was the lowest monthly exports since 6.72 mn t was exported in Jul ‘16. US coal shipments in May were down by 12% from 8.25 mn t in Apr ‘20 and 34% lower than 10.99 mn t in the same month a year ago. Evidently, this year’s coal exports have shown a steep decline since March, as both metallurgical and thermal coals saw lower-than-expected global demand because of worldwide lockdowns following the coronavirus outbreak.
Other major coal importers such as Turkey emerged as the largest importer in May ’20 with intake of 0.74 mn t coal declined by 12% from 0.66 mn t in Apr ’20, followed by South Korea, Brazil and Canada. Coal receipt by US major coal customer-India decreased 65% m-o-m to 0.49 mn t in May ’20 as against 1.42 mn t in Apr ’20.
Finished Flat: The US finished flat steel exports reported by 13% decline in May ’20 to 0.22 mn t as compared to 0.25 in Apr ’20, and a massive 49% fall on the year in contrast with 0.43 mn t in May ’19. The decline in export volumes came as a result of reduced imports from Mexican importers amid staggering demand from the construction and automobile sectors since late-Feb’20.
Also, the COVID pandemic affected major global trade activities for both the US and Mexico amid spiraling infection cases since Mar ’20 and consequent lockdown measures. The export volumes to Mexico were at 0.11 mn t, falling by 27% m-o-m. However, there was an increase of 13% m-o-m in exports to Canada at 0.09 mn t in May ’20.
Finished Long: Finish long export from the USA witnessed a fall by 18% m-o-m to 0.05 mn t in May ’20, in comparison to 0.06 mn t exported in Apr ’20. Also on a yearly basis, finished long exports observed a slight fall by 9% from 0.06 mn t exported a year ago in May ’19.
Canada remained the largest importer of finish long, as it imported 0.04 mn t in May ’20, down by 12% m-o-m, same as the previous month in Apr’20.
Quantity in t
Source: SteelMint stats & customs data
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