World Scrap Import Trade Displayed Mixed Trend in 2018

The scrap imports by various countries displayed mixed trend in 2018. While India, Taiwan and South Korea reported increased imports, other countries such as Turkey and Japan saw scrap import volumes declining during the year.

India imported nearly 5.3 million tons of scrap in 2018, which is notably higher by 16% when compared with 2017. The imports flourished during the second half of the year. The largest source of import was the UAE, which supplied 1.1 million tons of scrap to India. The imports from that country surged 62% year-on-year. The other key scrap exporters to India were the U.S. (590,000 tons) and Singapore (400,000 tons).

The scrap imports by Taiwan totaled nearly 3.6 million tons, significantly higher by 24.3% over the previous year. The largest supplier was the U.S. with 1.7 million tons, followed by Japan (435,000 tons) and Hong Kong (184,000 tons).

South Korean scrap imports recorded 3.7% year-on-year growth to total around 6.1 million tons in 2018. Nearly 64% of the total imports by the country were from Japan, whose supplies totaled around 3.9 million tons. Japan was followed by Russia (920,000 tons) and the U.S. (860,000 tons).

On the contrary, the Japanese yearly scrap imports witnessed 7.1% decline over the previous year to total around 220,000 tons. The U.S was the key supplier, with supplies totaling around 89,000 tons. Meantime, Turkish scrap imports too were down marginally by 1.5% year-on-year to around 20.7 million tons in 2018. The U.S. continued to be the largest supplier with 3.7 million tons, though the supplies dropped by 2.45% upon comparison with 2017.