During its quarterly financial earnings report on Wednesday, Portland, Oregon-based Schnitzer Steel Industries' President and CEO Tamara Lundgren said the current chatter about a drop in US domestic scrap prices in April has put a damper on export scrap activity, which has been especially quiet in recent weeks, and the lull in the market is a result of scrap buyers in Asia and Turkey waiting for US prices to settle.
In the US market, Lundgren said that US mills hold low inventories and even small upticks in demand can cause large price swings. As for scrap flow into Schnitzer's scrap yards, she said flows are currently very low and constrained.
In fiscal Q2 (ended February, 2013), ferrous sales volumes in Schnitzer's Metals Recycling Business of 1.1 million increased 16 percent from Q1 levels, primarily due to higher demand in the export markets and the timing of sales. Export customers accounted for 76 percent of total ferrous sales volumes in Q2, with Turkey, China and South Korea being the top ferrous export destinations.
Demand also strengthened in the export markets for February shipments, resulting in a 4 percent increase in average net ferrous selling prices from Q1 levels.