The US Department of Commerce have released statistics detailing that the export result of nickel scrap in August 2014 was approximately 2,541 tons, which was up 8.8 percent from July 2014, which was 2,335 tons.
Nickel, including nickel scrap, is not often used by itself for anything, but rather as an alloying element. For example, higher-end grades of stainless steel often contain nickel, which helps them become stronger than they would be without the nickel contain.
The statistics also revealed that the American exports to Japan and United Kingdom were down compared to previous months, however the exports to Canada, Germany and Sweden had increased, which as a result pushed up the total export volume for the month.
Even though the LME nickel price was down by 2.5 percent from July 2014, the average export unit price of nickel scrap went up because Canada returned the purchase of nickel scrap containing high nickel.