Decline in US Scrap Exports, while Pulp Exports escalates
Image Source: More Than Shipping
According to the reports of Q1FY2020, while the decline in US scrap exports continues, the nation’s pulp exports goes high.
The latest trade data of the US Census Bureau revealed that the decline in US Scrap Exports is an extension of the famous export reduction of recycled commodities in 2019. The changing regulatory of scrap imports in overseas is the prime reason behind these continuously dropping recycled material shipments out of the US and increasing pulp exports.
The decline in US Exports of Recycled Paper
The first quarter of 2020 has noticed the lowest first-quarter exports in years. The amount of recovered fiber exported by US companies in the first quarter of three consecutive years is:
| Year | Quantity (in million short tons) |
| 2020 | 4.01 |
| 2019 | 4.74 |
| 2018 | 4.93 |
The amount of recovered fiber imported by different countries from the US in the first quarter of FY2020:
| Country | Quantity (in short tons) |
| China | 1,200,000 |
| India | 747,000 |
| Mexico | 309,000 |
| Vietnam | 297,000 |
| South Korea | 256,000 |
| Taiwan | 252,000 |
| Canada | 242,000 |
| Indonesia | 157,000 |
| Thailand | 126,000 |
| Malaysia | 64,000 |
China, the largest purchaser of the US recovered fiber, is believed to have driven the drop in the US recycled paper exports. The country has consistently brought down its imports from 2.11 million short tons in Q1FY2018, 1.49 million in Q1FY2019 to 1.20 million in Q1FY2020.
The decline in US Exports of Scrap Plastic
The amount of scrap plastic exported by US companies in the first quarter of three consecutive years is:
| Year | Quantity (in million pounds) |
| 2020 | 311 |
| 2019 | 374 |
| 2018 | 711 |
The amount of scrap plastic shipped out of the US to the top importing countries in the first quarter of FY2020:
| Country | Quantity (in million pounds) |
| Canada | 81.3 |
| Malaysia | 54 |
| Hong Kong | 25 |
| Vietnam | 25 |
| Mexico | 21 |
| Turkey | 16 |
| South Korea | 11 |
| Taiwan | 10 |
| India | 10 |
| Indonesia | 8 |
The fall in the US scrap plastic exports is due to the implementation of a ban on plastic imports by major importing countries, like China and India.
China banned the sourcing of scrap plastic from abroad in 2018, bringing down the imported US scrap plastic figures from 324 million pounds in the first quarter of 2016 to 1 million pounds in the first quarter of the current year.
India announced a ban on imports of scrap plastic in the later part of 2019, reducing the US scrap plastic imports from 81 million pounds in the first quarter of 2019 to 10 million pounds during the same period this year.
The rise in US Exports of Recycled Paper Pulp
The amount of recycled paper pulp exported by US companies in the first quarter of three consecutive years is:
| Year | Quantity (in short tons) |
| 2020 | 87,000 |
| 2019 | 50,000 |
| 2018 | 14,000 |
Again, China is believed to be the driving force behind this expansion of recycled pulp exports in the US. The country has accounted for 84% of the commodity imports during 2020. The Chinese paper companies are rapidly shifting to pulp and driving decline in US scrap exports due to the difficulty of moving unprocessed recovered fiber bales into the country.