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    March 11, 2024

    March ferrous scrap market: Trends and turmoil

    Written by Phil Hoffman

    As I see it, the market looked to be a perfect storm for consumers this month while two large steel mills tried to put a floor on hot-rolled coil (HRC). One source speculated that “flat rolled mills coordinated their downtime and will take out 250,000 tons of capacity in April,” which made them attempt to put a bottom on flat-rolled product.

    In the Rocky Mountain region, it turns out the mill that significantly reduced their scrap buying program in February did come back into the market in March, albeit at about 50% of their normal program. They intend to return to their full purchase program in April, which may help put a floor on the Texas/Gulf region for the month.

    Phil Hoffman

    Phil Hoffman has been in operations, logistics and trading ferrous scrap globally for more than 30 years. Hoffman Iron has also consulted for numerous steel mills, where he has enhanced steel mill scrap and raw material operations by successfully reducing raw material costs while increasing yields. Hoffman is in addition an attorney specializing in international trade and maritime law.

    Read more from Phil Hoffman

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