Ferrous scrap exports from the US to Vietnam reached a 12-year high of 177,025 mt in September, the second highest monthly volume on record.
The US' exports to Vietnam mostly originated in Los Angeles (80,442 mt), San Francisco (50,387 mt) and Columbia-Snake (33,918 mt) in the Pacific Northwest. The grades were predominately heavy melting scrap 1 and 2 (92,951 mt) and shredded (42,695 mt) according to US Department of Commerce and International Trade Commission data.
Total US steel scrap exports were 1.38 million mt in September with Turkey (351,806 mt), Vietnam, Canada (171,965 mt), Taiwan (131,931 mt), South Korea (125,104 mt) and Mexico (91,910 mt) the largest buyers.
Shipments to Canada reached a 10-year high with 104,124 mt being exported out of Buffalo and nearly all of it stainless scrap (95,582 mt).
Exports to Mexico fell to their lowest monthly volume this year as nothing shipped from the US East Coast market, instead heading south mostly from Laredo, Texas (65,281 mt); San Diego (16,306 mt); and El Paso, Texas (10,156 mt).
The top overall ports for export were Los Angeles (339,788 mt), New York City (255,323 mt), Buffalo (104,124 mt), Houston (92,077 mt) and San Francisco (69,995 mt), the data show.
Houston sent 75,000 mt of scrap to Turkey in September and the remaining tons went to India (8,698 mt), Pakistan (2,358 mt) and Indonesia (1,371 mt).
By grade, the top US September steel scrap exports were heavy melting scrap 1 and 2 (474,548 mt) and shredded (376,353 mt).
2018 US ferrous scrap exports through Sep at five-year high
Through the first three quarters of 2018, US ferrous scrap exports of 12.98 million mt are the highest since 2013. The top destinations were Turkey (2.69 million mt), Mexico (1.47 million mt), Taiwan (1.42 million mt), Canada (928,405 mt) and India (771,971 mt) and the top ports were Los Angeles (2.38 million mt), New York City (2 million mt), San Francisco (1.2 million mt), Boston (749,317 mt) and Philadelphia (744,140 mt).
Through September, over two-thirds of the US steel scrap exports were HMS 1 and 2 (4.64 million mt) and shredded scrap (4.3 million mt) while exports of No. 1 and No. 2 bundles totaled 24,187 mt, the lowest on record.
