Scrap Prices North America

US ferrous scrap market lands flat in July

Written by Stephen Miller

July 8, 2025

The US ferrous scrap market has settled sideways for July in a manner even more effortless than the June transition.

Prices across the US fell into place without comment or issue just before July 4. Predictions heard in late June of a sideways trade were all spot-on. Demand was neither strong enough nor supply weak enough to affect scrap prices either way.

SMU spoke to a trader in the Central region who quipped, “Maybe we should not have a market anymore. They (the mills or mill-owned brokers) should just tell us what it is.”

He added he votes sideways for August.

One of our sources in the South confirmed the ease and speed at which the monthly settlements occurred. He also expressed surprise the mills settled before the holiday. 

Steelmakers in this region bought their normal amount of material. There was very little or no purchases on the part of the new capacity mills, which are still ramping up.

Asked what he thought at this stage about August price tags, he said: “More of the same.” 

On the increased steel tariffs, our source thought the effect they are having is to keep more imported hot-rolled (HR) coil from coming in. This has kept the melt rate of the flat-roll mills stable in a moderately weakening manufacturing economy.

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.

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