Ferrous Scrap Exports Fall Below 1M Net Tons in January

Ferrous scrap exports totaled 898,156 metric tons (990,046 net tons or NT) for the month of January, a 42.7 percent decrease in exports from December 2013. This is a 41.4 percent decrease over the same month last year when tonnage was 1,689,288 NT.

Global exports haven’t been this low since January of 2006 when they were at 917,650 NT. Exports overall have been down due to the global steel market slow down and a devaluation of foreign currency against the US dollar. In the Middle East, Turkey exports decreased 69.7 percent and Egypt decreased 59.4 percent from December to January. In the Asian markets, Indonesia saw the largest decrease in tonnage for January exporting only 7,879 from their 18,488 net tons in December, a 57 percent decrease in tonnage; this may be a direct result from the raw mineral export ban that went into effect early in January.