The ferrous scrap market experienced a sharp decline for March shipments. Prime scrap fell $60-70 per gross ton (gt) while shredded and other obsolete grades declined $40-50/gt. It seems these prices were accepted in the trade by dealers across the continent.
US ferrous scrap prices fell steeply in March for HMS, shredded, and prime scrap, sources told SMU.
A Detroit-area mill entered the scrap market on Thursday offering down $70 per gross ton (gt) on #1 busheling. And Nucor announced a minimum base price of $825 per short ton (st) for hot-rolled (HR) coil. What's the best way to interpret would could be read as contradictory trends?
A Detroit area steelmaker this morning announced its offers for scrap for March scrap shipments. The drop in its offer prices were larger than most industry observes forecasted, especially for shredded scrap. Many in the scrap community had predicted that prime scrap would drop $40-50 per gross ton (gt) with shredded only down $30-40/gt. But other market participants were skeptical about these predictions given bearishness in ferrous markets, both domestically and abroad.
Everyone knows the old saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Just because it’s a cliché doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. A lot of inked has been spilled trying to figure out why prices are falling now. I thought it might be as simple as this: Market dynamics in the fourth quarter (UAW strike, companies buying ahead of an anticipated post-strike price spike, etc.) pulled forward restocking activity that typically happens in the first quarter.
What's the steel market talking about at present?
The spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and prime scrap prices narrowed further this month, according to SMU’s most recent pricing data.
US busheling scrap prices fell this month, while HMS and shredded grades remained largely unchanged.
Algoma Steel is currently navigating a challenge as it deals with an unplanned outage at its blast furnace, but the company’s CEO is still bullish on its future as an EAF steelmaker.
Steel Dynamics Inc. faces rising costs for its Columbus, Miss., aluminum rolling mill, but the project timeline remains on track.
The capacity for EAF steelmaking is growing both in the US and abroad. Ferrous scrap supply has never been more important. A lot of people have viewed the scrap industry as old-fashioned and resistant to change. However, the same forces affecting the steel and other industries are also at play in recycling.
This latest SMU steel market survey is a snapshot of a sheet market inflecting lower. A significant 43% of survey respondents said that the hot-rolled (HR) coil market has already peaked. Compare that to only 8% when we released our last steel market survey on Jan. 5.
The spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and prime scrap prices narrowed slightly this month, according to SMU’s most recent pricing data.
Domestic scrap prices ended up down slightly after a roller coaster of trading in January, scrap sources told SMU.
I expected that we’d start off January with prime scrap prices modestly up if for no other reason than industrial activity typically slows down over the holidays. And mills’ appetite for scrap typically increases in anticipation of stronger Q1 order activity.
I’d have been surprised if anyone told me just last week that the January scrap market might move lower. What we saw on Friday were offers. Not settlements. And no doubt there are still some twists and turns in store before we can say for sure which way scrap will go.
A Detroit-area mill entered the scrap market on Friday afternoon with the following offers: The Chicago area followed suit: Mills in the Great Lakes region sensed there was ample supply of most grades. Also, they all bought heavily last month and so had sufficient inventories to make this move, market participants said. Still, the move surprised […]
SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects this past week, including purchasing practices, steel sheet prices, scrap, and the future market.
SMU doesn’t do forecasts. We leave that to our colleagues at CRU. But we’re pretty good at surveys, and we’ve got a great group of readers. That’s why we decided to ask you what’s in store for 2024. The results are below, along with some insightful comments in italics.
As we look back at the scrap market for 2023, it basically followed its normal seasonal pattern. Most of the disruptive geopolitical events that riled ferrous raw materials occurred in 2022. So, with those things out of the way—or settling down at least for now—2023 resumed its normal pattern.
The spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and prime scrap prices widened slightly this month, according to SMU’s most recent pricing data.
Algoma Steel’s CEO Michael Garcia joined SMU Managing Editor Michael Cowden for a Community Chat on Wednesday, Nov. 29. A great discussion was had on topics ranging from plate pricing to decarbonization efforts, raw materials strategies, and more.
The spread between HRC and prime scrap prices widened considerably this month, according to Steel Market Update's most recent pricing data.
Domestic scrap prices rose in November month over month for all grades that SMU covers, market sources said.
A large Detroit-area scrap buyer has settled scrap prices for November, with busheling, shredded, and plate and structurals (P&S) all notching gains vs. October, a scrap source told SMU.
The spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and prime scrap prices widened slightly this month, according to SMU’s most recent pricing data.
Prime scrap prices were unchanged in October month over month, following a large Detroit-area buyer's lead, according to market sources.
A large Detroit-area scrap buyer has settled scrap tags for October, with busheling scrap sideways, a source told SMU.
Some of the movements in scrap and pig iron pricing over the past 18-24 months have been quite drastic.
What has happened since the August hot rolled (HR) settlement ($767 per short ton)?