• Skip to main content

    Analysis

    November 3, 2026

    Ferrous scrap prices seen rising in November

    Written by Stephen Miller

    Most SMU scrap sources are predicting a stronger scrap market for November. The increase in prices is generally thought be $20-30 per gross ton (gt) in most districts. However, there are differences of opinion about the upcoming price settlements.

    SMU spoke with a trading source in the Great Lakes region who told us mills in the Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania regions are short on scrap. At least one buyer is offering to buy scrap at a $30/gt increase from October levels. He said most dealers have elected to wait to see where things settle before making commitments.

    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.

    Read more from Stephen Miller

    Latest in Analysis

    SMU Community Chat: Data centers strong in uneven construction market, Simonson says

    Construction has been an uneven market over the last year, but data centers have been a bright spot. Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) sat down with SMU Editor-in-Chief Michael Cowden last week for a Community Chat. In a far-ranging conversation, Simonson spoke on the current state of construction and wider issues in the economy. (For SMU Premium subscribers, you can watch replay of the entire interview here.)

    SMU Survey: Buyers push price peak expectations later despite competitive imports

    Buyers in SMU’s latest Flat-Rolled Steel Survey increasingly expect hot-rolled (HR) coil prices to keep climbing into year-end and beyond. But competitive import offers have not yet eased concerns about tight availability: most surveyed manufacturers and service centers said foreign suppliers were quoting competitive prices, while many service centers said they were still buying imports to secure additional tons. As of Tuesday, Oct. 27, current spot prices for HR coil range from $1,280 per short ton (st) to $1,330/st, averaging $1,305/st, according to SMU’s market survey. Looking two months ahead, 41% of respondents to our Oct. 28 survey expected HR coil prices to be $1,300-1,349 per short ton (st) in two months, down from 47% in our survey two weeks earlier.