US ferrous exports declined 51pc in October to 1.47mn mt from 3mn mt during the same month in 2018, according to the latest US Census Bureau data.
The data revealed that scrap exports fell 9.4pc to 13.6mn mt through the first 10 months of 2019, compared to 15mn mt during the same 10-month period in 2018.
Hong Kong’s political upheaval has impacted US ferrous exports to the country, which decreased to 3,860mn mt in October, 84.2pc below the 24,358mn mt during the same month in 2018. Exports to Thailand, Canada and Vietnam declined 88.4pc, 84.4pc and 75.9pc, respectively, in October 2019 compared to the same month one year ago. Peru is the only country that recorded an increase of US ferrous imports, growing 8.1pc in October 2019 compared to the same month in 2018.
Shipments to Turkey, one of the largest importers of US scrap, declined 27.2pc in October to 334,660mt, compared to 460,964 in October 2018.
Thailand had the steepest year-to-date decline of US imports, falling 36.4pc between January and October 2019 to 254,516mt. During the same period last year, Thailand imported 607,000mt from the US.
Exports to Indonesia, Ecuador, Hong Kong, and Mexico declined during this period by 36.4pc, 35.3pc, 32.2pc and 27.7pc, respectively.
However, scrap shipments out of the US fared slightly better in October compared to a month earlier when 1.29mn mt was recorded.