Ferrous scrap market outlook hazy for April

Northern Ohio/Western Pennsylvania

A scrap broker operating in Northern Ohio/Western Pennsylvania said, “Many people I’ve spoken with are saying the market will be down, but I just don’t believe it.”

He noted several of his supplying accounts have told him they do not have a lot of scrap to sell in April.

Steelmakers in this region are seemingly in need of scrap, so demand is not a problem. In March, “spring clean-up” usually begins, but has been delayed this year.

Midwest

Looking westward to Chicago and the Midwest, there is the possibility of increased demand with several mills that did not buy scrap last month or bought very little, according to another source.

He warned that if this comes to pass, any possible expected decrease in pricing will be mitigated.

The source agreed that scrap flow improvement has not occurred as winter has been stubbornly hanging on.

Until the blanket tariffs issue is decided by the White House Mexico and Canada on April 1, it is very difficult to make predictions.

Southeast

In the Southeast, sources there are bracing for a downturn in scrap prices going into April. They believe there is more than sufficient scrap to fuel a retreat in the market.

Major buyers throughout the region are all warning prices will be down. They acknowledge export prices have gone up the last several weeks. However, they have not gone up enough on shredded scrap to deter exporters from selling domestically in April. This could be a factor for next month.

At this time last month, there were differing opinions between the Northern and Southern market participants about the direction of the market. The Northern contingent prevailed to a limited degree. This time, things may be different.