U.S. Exports of Precious Metal Scrap Dropped 5%
The latest U.S. Census Bureau data points to 5% decline in the country’s exports of precious metal scrap during the first four months of 2019. The exports were down by 4.62% from $1.57 billion in Jan-Apr ’18 to $1.5 billion during the corresponding four-month period this year.
Canada continued to remain as the top trade partner through April this year, receiving $458.92 million of precious metal scrap exported by the U.S. This accounted for approximately 31% of the total U.S. exports during this period. The Canadian imports from the U.S. surged higher by almost 40% over the previous year. The other leading export destinations were the U.K. ($254.87 million), Italy ($242.0 million), Germany ($207.13 million) and Japan ($169.76 million).
The U.S. shipments to the above top five foreign markets totaled $1.33 billion, accounting for just over 89% of the total exports.
On the contrary, the U.S. imports of precious metal scrap witnessed marginal surge by 2.77% over the previous year from $587.19 million to $603.47 million.
The primary source of import was Germany. The U.S. imports from that country totaled $133.75 million, down by almost 8% from the previous year. Germany accounted for more than 22% of all U.S. imports. The other key suppliers were Canada ($108.56 million), the U.K. ($95.20 million), Mexico ($46.49 million) and Japan ($37.67 million). Nearly 70% of all precious metal scrap imports to the U.S. were shipped from the above five countries.
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