The US domestic market began its monthly buy-cycle in the middle of the week ended January 6 as buyers and sellers began moving from an initial gridlock. Most of the hesitation came from sellers who were cautious to commit inventory and leave potential funds on the table if prices crept up during the next few days.
Initially, prices were expected to increase up to $35-$45/gt ($36-46/mt) depending on grade but softened towards the end of the week as Turkish mills limited deep sea deals - no deals for US scrap heard- and exporters began to make some inventories available to the domestic market. According to sources close to SteelOrbis, initial deals were higher but as the volume available increased and some large mills delayed purchases, prices dampened. Additionally, several sources report deals finished on Friday on a "price to be determined basis." As of today, prices on those pending contracts have been confirmed up on base prices $30-35/mt on cuts and $40/mt on busheling.
In the Midwest, specifically Detroit, prices were heard up $31-40/mt while prices moved up in the range of $26-46/mt on the East coast. An East coast source noted, "Depending on grade busheling was able to garner up to $315/gt ($320/mt) early in the buy cycle while prime bundles garnered $290-300/gt ($295-305/mt). Quality was a differentiating factor in the wide price range."
Below are the settled prices for the US domestic scrap market.
Jan 9 (delivered to mill) | East coast | Ohio Valley | Pennsylvania | Midwest | Gulf |
HMS I | $274-279/mt $270-275/gt | $295-300/mt $290-295/gt | $295-300/mt $290-295/gt | $310-320/mt $305-315/gt | $280-285/mt $275-280/gt |
Shredded | $310-315/mt $305-310/gt | $320-325/mt $315-320/gt | $320-325/mt $315-320/gt | $325-335/mt $320-330/gt | $295-300/mt $290-295/gt |
Busheling | $290-315/mt $285-310/gt | $330-335/mt $325-330/gt | $330-335/mt $325-330/gt | $330-335/mt $325-330/gt | $300-310/mt $295-305/gt |
P&S | $285-290/mt $280-285/gt | $310-315/mt $305-310/gt | $309-313/mt $304-308/gt | $310-315/mt $305-310/gt | $290-295/mt $285-290/gt |
Compared to the previous month (December 2016) when SteelOrbis reported the settled prices, changes are as follow:
Jan 9 (Change vs. Dec) | East coast | Ohio Valley | Pennsylvania | Midwest | Gulf |
HMS I | +$35/mt | +$36/mt +31/mt | +$36/mt +31/mt | +$31/mt +36/mt | +$31/mt |
Shredded | +$41/mt | +$36/mt +30/mt | +$36/mt +30/mt | +$35/mt +40/mt | +$31/mt |
Busheling | +$26/mt +$46/mt | +$40/mt | +$40/mt | +$40/mt | +$31/mt +36/mt |
P&S | +$31/mt | +$26/mt +25/mt | +$25/mt +$23/mt | +$31/mt | +$26/mt |
Note: Due to the proximity in calculations between mt and gt at low numbers, only mt variance noted in relation to change from previous range. When two numbers are present as change for a grade, the top number denotes change from bottom of previous range and the bottom number denotes the change from the top of the previous range.