Analysis
November 19, 2025
Scrap export market sees activity but no price boom
Written by Stephen Miller
The bulk scrap export market has experienced a great deal of action lately, but that has not resulted in runaway pricing.
It has risen from levels earlier in Q4, though seems to have plateaued over the last two weeks, both in Europe and North America. Buyers in Turkey have bought seven US-origin cargoes and another one from Venezuela over the last week.
The price of HMS 80/20 from the US and Canada has leveled out at ~$355.50 per metric ton (mt) CFR Turkey, sources say. Shredded and bonus scrap carry a $20/mt premium. In Europe that price is $350/370/mt. The freight rates from both origins have again risen and has had the effect of keeping pricing firm, without any gain on the part of the sellers.
The most surprising aspect of the US purchases is four of these cargoes are going to be shipped from the US West Coast.
This is very unusual since this scrap is preferential to the Asian markets. However, due to an inundation of finished and semi-finished steel from Chinese steelmakers into these regions, scrap demand suffered.
So, the exporters on the West Coast took orders for delivery to Turkey via the Panama Canal and absorbed the additional freight rather than accepting the prices offered by traditional buyers in Southeast and Southern Asia.
This has sent a message not only to Asian buyers, but also to export terminals on the USEC, who quickly took orders to Turkey at that same price of $355.50/mt delivered. Any near-term hopes of an increase into the $360s has been dashed as a result, at least for the time being.
Regarding the Asian buyers, it’s hard to blame them for pricing bulk scrap at lower prices. The fact is, they can procure containerized HMS at prices of $295/305/mt CFR CY Taiwan/Vietnam. This represents a wide disparity between bulk and container of roughly $40-50/mt.
SMU contacted a US-based trader with experience with US West Coast scrap shipments. We asked if these new West Coast export orders will affect the flows of scrap from the West Coast into mills in the Midwest and Southern markets in the US.
The trader said it will not. He indicated that the only significant volumes of scrap that travel trans-continentally are the prime grades of #1 Busheling and #1 Bundles. He added that HMS generated in the Western districts is virtually all exported and likewise with shredded, which is produced in surplus after domestic demand is satisfied.
On the East Coast, according to a source, scrap terminals have increased their buying prices for HMS but only modestly.
There is an expectation of an increase in domestic pricing as winter sets in. Still, it is not clear how this will affect export pricing or when the domestic market will rebound. There is general optimism about an increase in steel production going into 2026, but we are not there yet.
