Trade overview: US aluminium scrap exports through the first ten months of 2024

The United States is one of the leading aluminium scrap exporters in the world, with an annual average export volume close to 2 million tonnes. In 2023, the country exported 2.06 million tonnes, and by October, 1.74 million tonnes was shipped. In the first ten months of the subsequent year, the export volume totalled 1.73 million tonnes, reflecting a Y-o-Y dip of 0.6 per cent, according to the US Census Bureau Statistics. Was this decline consistent throughout the first ten months? What factors contributed to the fall? And which country had the most significant impact on the drop? All these will be closely studied in this comprehensive article.

Month-on-month export volume trend

To address the first question, let us delve into the month-wise export volume by the United States. In the first three months of 2024, the United States aluminium scrap exports grew each month, starting from 155,000 tonnes in January after a M-o-M increase of 1.97 per cent to 158,000 tonnes in February, up by 1.94 per cent from January, the export volume at the end of March summed up 182,000 tonnes - 15.2 per cent higher than in February.

In April, the export volume inched down to 180,000 tonnes but recovered within a month, reaching 192,000 tonnes at the end of May. However, in June and July, the United States witnessed back-to-back declines, standing at 172,000 tonnes, sharply down by 20,000 tonnes from the previous month, and further lower at 168,000 tonnes in July.

August saw a restraint, while September encountered an improvement of 5.36 per cent to 177,000 tonnes, which again fell by 1.7 per cent in the succeeding month to 174,000 tonnes.