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    November 26, 2024

    Ferrous scrap mart seen sluggish into the holidays

    Written by Stephen Miller

    The ferrous scrap markets both here and abroad are displaying a definite lack of enthusiasm as we head into the holiday season. With the election of Donald Trump to his second term, many thought our industrial production would be bolstered. The stock and crypto markets shot up. But you’d never know it with steel and recycled ferrous metals. These markets are showing few signs of strengthening (though we’ll soon see what happens after Trump has threatened new tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada). At the moment, December projections are looking weaker.

    Trump’s election victory has strengthened the US dollar from EUR/USD 1.09 to 1.04, as of Nov. 26 on XE.com. This has had the effect of weakened scrap prices, which Turkey has had to pay European exporters. The increase in the dollar vs. the euro allows dealers to buy their scrap in euros but get paid in dollars. Over the last month, Northern European export prices were averaging $364 per metric ton (mt) CFR.  Since Nov. 5, this price has eroded to about $343/mt, with new bids in the $330s. To be honest, the currency fluctuations are not the only reason for the declines. Poor steel demand shares the blame. 

    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.

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