A Taiwan company made a rare but large buy of U.S. lead scrap in August, ranking the country third among the month's foreign destinations.

A total of 13,856 short tons were shipped abroad in August, up nearly 6 percent from 13,075 tons in July.

The U.S. Commerce Department statistics didn't specify that the 1,213-ton shipment to Taiwan was a single transaction, but it's a reasonable surmise given that the month's entire flow to Taiwan left through the Miami customs district.

It...