Aluminum scrap exports increased by 1.2pc to 160,931mt in August from 159,018mt a year earlier, according to the latest US Census Bureau data.
Scrap exports fell by 7pc from June, with automotive production inching closer to pre-pandemic levels following the easing of COVID-19-related lockdowns, as well as rising electric vehicle production globally, with Tesla, Nikola and Lucid leading the way.
In January-August 2020, these exports fell 5pc to 1.17mn mt from 1.23mt during the same eight-month period last year.
Used beverage can (UBC) shipments from the US resumed in July after coming to a standstill in June. In August, shipments only managed to grow to 14,052mt—10pc of July 2019 levels when exports totaled 156,211mt. Export batches also consisted of 6,437mt of remelt scrap aluminum and 140,532mt of other scrap aluminum, a segment comprising mostly non-ferrous zorba. Exports in both categories surged from 443mt and 2362mt, respectively, in August 2019.
Malaysia remained the largest importer, accepting 23,982mt of aluminum scrap, while Mexico and South Korea respectively followed at 12,661mt and 11,876mt.
Other US nonferrous scrap exports declined in August, with copper falling by 10.8pc to 67,881mt from a year earlier, and nickel declining by 92pc to 816mt. However, lead exports increased by 1.4pc to 6,136mt, and zinc shipments increased by 12.1pc to 2,098mt.