Aluminum scrap exports from the US increased by 11.7 pc to 156,412mt in December 2020 compared with 140,075mt in the same month of 2019, according to the latest US Census Bureau data. In the full year 2020, these exports rose by 1.3pc to settle at 1.85mn mt over 1.83mn mt in 2019.
Used beverage can (UBC) shipments stood at 15,294mt in December, rising by 126pc compared with 6,749mt December 2019. Export batches also consisted of 6,090mt of remelt scrap aluminum, down by 0.7pc annually. Shipments of other scrap aluminum tallied at 135,027mt in December 2020, up by 6.2pc from the same month of the previous year. This segment mostly consists of non-ferrous zorba.
Mexico was the largest importer in December 2020, accepting 31,741mt of aluminum scrap with India and Malaysia following at 22,553mt and 17,435mt, respectively.
Other US nonferrous scrap exports rose in December 2020 as well, with copper up 2.9pc to 66,030mt from a year earlier and zinc increased by 39pc at 2,691mt. Nickel and lead shipments, however, fell by 42pc and 11.7pc to 1,608mt and 5,194mt, respectively.