Major Asian Countries Publish Latest Scrap Metal Import Data

The data published by the Taiwanese Customs indicates sharp month-on-month decline in imports of heavy melting scrap.

The scrap import trade by major Asian countries witnessed mixed trend. This is with reference to the latest scrap import statistics published by the government agencies of respective countries.

The Thailand’s trade statistics indicate that imports by the country have declined drastically by 95.3% over the previous year in March this year. The monthly imports totaled 137,000 tons during the month. The combined imports during the initial three-month period of the year stood higher by nearly 26% at 440,000 tons, when compared with the corresponding quarter in 2017. Myanmar was the key source of scrap imports, accounting for almost one-fifth of the total imported scrap.

The South Korean scrap imports recorded 23% year-on-year jump in April this year. The imports totaled 523,000 tons during the month. The cumulative imports totaled 2.12 million tons during the first four months of 2018. The imports were up marginally by nearly 5% over the previous year. The imports from Japan totaled 1.49 million tons, accounting for more than 70% of the total scrap imports by Korea during the four-month period.

The data published by the Taiwanese Customs indicates sharp month-on-month decline in imports of heavy melting scrap. The imports declined from 310,000 tons in March to 270,000 tons in April. The country’s imports totaled 990,000 tons in Jan-Apr ’18. The largest scrap supplier was the U.S. with supplies totaling 479,000 tons.

According to Vietnamese Ministry of Economy data, the country’s imports totaled 393,000 tons, up by 20.6% when compared with the year before. The imports during the first four months of 2018 totaled around 1.7 million tons.

The trade statistics published by the Pakistan Federal Bureau of Statistics (PFBS) suggests marginal decline of almost 3% in March ’18 scrap imports. The imports totaled 403,000 tons, valued at nearly $129 million during the month.