Category: Scrap Prices North America

Domestic scrap prices ended up down slightly after a roller coaster of trading in January, scrap sources told SMU.

Turkish scrap import prices increased last week with CRU’s assessment for HMS1/2 80:20 at $423 per metric ton (t) CFR, up by $7/t week over week (w/w) but down $2/t month over month (m/m). This was driven by a pickup in buying activity.

For two consecutive months, the initial scrap prices didn’t attract the amount of scrap that mills needed. A Detroit area mill came in at $460 per gross ton (gt) for busheling, which was down $50 from last month and down $20 on shredded and plate and structurals (P&S). But I guess they did not know at the time another mill in the district bought scrap sideways. Needless to say, that order filled right away. SMU could not find any supplier who sold at down $50.

US scrap prices for January remained unsettled as of early Thursday afternoon, according to market sources.

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 […]

After a brief decline in the price of scrap for the Turkish market, which peaked in December at approximately $424 per metric ton (mt) for HMS 80/20, the market has bottomed at $405/mt on cargoes from Europe.

Radius Recycling reported a net loss in its fiscal first quarter of 2024 on tighter supply flows for recycled metals and lower average selling prices for the company’s products.

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.

Over the last two decades, the role of the scrap broker has been diminished in favor of steel mills purchasing their scrap requirements directly from scrap dealers.

The spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and prime scrap prices widened slightly this month, according to SMU’s most recent pricing data.

US scrap prices shot up in December and are expected to continue their rise in January, market sources told SMU.

The prices for all grades of pig iron have dramatically risen since SMU’s last report from Nov. 18.

A large Detroit-area scrap buyer entered the market on Wednesday at significantly higher prices than a month earlier.

The export market for ferrous scrap has been strengthening over the last month by a sizable margin.

US scrap prices are expected to rise in December, industry sources told SMU.

The importation of basic pig iron has allowed EAF steelmakers to implement thin-slab casting technology to make drawing-quality flat-rolled sheet over the last 30 years.

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.

The iron and steel foundry industries consume about 17% of the ferrous scrap in the US each year. They purchase several grades of scrap in common with steelmakers, such as shredded and turnings. But, most of the grades are much more restrictive than what larger mills require. 

Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) scrap subsidiary OmniSource has acquired a 55-acre rail-served tract near the Port of Houston to expand its metal recycling operations along the Gulf Coast.

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 announcement that Republic Steel in Canton, Ohio, is going to permanently cease operations disappointed many scrap suppliers in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The ferrous export market in the US has experienced several geopolitical events and natural disasters during 2023.

Radius Recycling thinks that an end to the UAW strike could relieve pressure on a tight domestic scrap market. Scrap supplies have fallen because of lower manufacturing, construction, and demolition activity as well as “the slowing economy overall,” Radius chairman, president, and CEO Tamara Lundgren said. Inflation and higher interest rates have contributed to that […]

As the ferrous scrap market in the US enters the home stretch for 2023, it faces an array of issues and uncertainties.

The spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and prime scrap prices widened slightly this month, according to SMU’s most recent pricing data.

The pig iron trade is an important element to the US steel and foundry industry.

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.

While the ongoing United Auto Workers (UAW) strike hasn’t had a significant impact on the scrap market, the strike's expansion to stamping plants could hit supply, sources tell SMU.