Could we be looking at a weakness in June prices?

The chatter about the June ferrous scrap market has been noticeably muted as we come off the Memorial Day weekend. However, those who RMU have spoken to are not confident prices will hold at May levels, which saw prime scrap trade sideways and obsolescent grades drop $10 per gross ton (gt) to $20/gt.

The best illustration of this was conversations RMU had with our sources in the Midwest. One source thinks the market is trending downward on the basis of reduced demand. He said the melting program at USS-Gary Works and the other Cleveland-Cliffs mills in the Chicago district “will be less than May, and May was pretty bad.”

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.