U.S. Exports of Plastic Scrap Plummeted 30%
The latest U.S. Census Bureau data suggests notable decline in exports of plastic waste and scrap by the country in 2018. The exports tumbled by 29.58% from $632.88 million in 2017 to $445.55 million in 2018.
The top destination of export was neighboring Canada. The exports to that country totaled $69.08 million during the year, increasing marginally by 1.69% over the previous year. Malaysia, with imports of $57.18 million, was the second largest export destination for U.S. plastic scrap exports. In third place was Hong Kong, receiving $53.97 million worth of the material. The other main importers in 2018 were India ($49.96 million) and Thailand ($43.08 million). The exports to Thailand zoomed by over 300%, whereas those to Malaysia were down by almost 84%, upon comparison with 2017.
Meantime, the imports during the previous year surged higher by 10.65% to $245.11 million. It must be noted that the imports had totaled only $221.52 million in 2017.
The leading sources of import were Mexico, Canada, Honduras, China and Japan. These five countries together accounted for nearly 72% of all plastic scrap imports by the U.S. during 2018. The imports from Mexico totaled $98.72 million, recording a jump of 15% year-on-year. The U.S. imports from Canada were down by almost 10% at $47.05 million. The supplies from Honduras rose 6.87% to $10.59 million. The imports from China and Japan totaled $9.92 million and $9.68 million respectively.
Interestingly, the imports from China were down by more than 13% when compared with 2017. On the contrary supplies from Japan saw a year-on-year surge by 236%.
Leave a Comment