Ferrous market shapes up

After a considerable wait, the market for ferrous scrap for May shipment has started to form. The Detroit district has entered the market buying prime grades at sideways pricing and obsolete grades at down $20 per gross ton (gt) from April levels.

Ferrous scrap was generally predicted to trade in a “soft sideways” manner for May. So, those expectations seem to have been met. The Detroit buy should form a platform for other mills to adopt as the market settles over the next several days.

Update

It did not take long for other districts to enter the market after Detroit dipped their toe in. For the most part, the other districts followed along with minor variations.

The Philadelphia market went sideways across the board mainly due to the ongoing strength in the export arena.

Several markets only went down $10/gt on obsolescent grades, but prime traded sideways in all markets thus far. These prices should not draw too much resistance, if any, according to several sources.

Stephen Miller

Stephen Miller started his career in the scrap metal industry in 1978 at Luria Brothers in Cleveland. Over the last 40+ 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.