Scrap plastics export figures saw another month-to-month rise in volume, but the ferrous and aluminum categories both declined.
In March, the most recent month for which figures are available, scrap plastics exports totaled 359.27 million pounds, an increase of 16.2 percent from February 2016 export levels. That marked the second straight month of volume gains over 15 percent.
When matched against March 2015 levels, however, the volume of plastic scrap exports in the month was down by 13.8 percent.
Meanwhile, the weighted price of recovered plastic exports in March 2016 was 17.1 cents per pound, up 1.0 percent from its February standing. That price-per-pound figure was down 6.2 percent from the price level in March 2015.
With 934.17 million pounds of scrap plastics exported through the first three months of 2016, the volume was down 6.4 percent from the March 2015 year-to-date (YTD) figure. At 17.0 cents per pound, the average price through March 2016 was down by 8.5 percent from its 2015 YTD standing.
As for other exported materials, recovered paper exports were up through the first three months of 2016. Through March, 4.90 million metric tons were exported, a 7.3 percent increase from March 2015 YTD levels. At $149 per metric ton, the weighted average price of exported recovered paper through March was down YTD by 6.9 percent.
The 2.58 million metric tons of ferrous scrap exported through March 2016 amounted to a 20.8 percent YTD decrease. This was the third month in a row of YTD declines over 20 percent in the ferrous category. At $255 per metric ton, the weighted average price of exported ferrous scrap was down 23.6 percent from March 2015 YTD levels.
Finally, the 687.90 million pounds of aluminum scrap exported in 2016 through March amounted to a 5.2 percent decrease compared with the February 2015 YTD figure. At 61 cents per pound, the average price of exported aluminum scrap through March 2016 was down by 18.0 percent compared with last year’s total through March.
