Northern buyers enter April scrap market sideways

Several large buyers in the North came into the market on a sideways basis from prices paid in March.

The development comes after recent speculation about what prices US-based steelmakers would pay for scrap for April shipments.

Mills spanning several districts in the Great Lakes area all bought sideways, despite indications that not all of them had full programs.

There had been debate about whether the market was going to settle at “soft” or “strong” sideways toward the end of March. After considering the mill cutbacks and outages for April, the northern buys arguably represent a ‘strong’ sideways move.

Strengthening export activity did play a small role as some Northeast markets went up slightly for obsolescent export grades. Other districts in the West and South will most likely fill in at sideway prices as well. At this point, they would have a hard time paying any less.

Stephen Miller

Stephen Miller started his career in the scrap metal industry in 1978 at Luria Brothers in Cleveland. Over the last 40-plus years, he has worked in all capacities in the trading business. He has had positions in both domestic and international scrap trading. In addition to scrap, Miller was at the forefront of the pig iron trade and established a pig iron distribution company under the name of Ferrosource, Inc. Most recently, Miller has concentrated on the scrap export market and regularly does consulting for several companies in the industry.