According to sources close to SteelOrbis, the majority of domestic scrap trading in East coast regions has ended today. As the June buy-cycle commenced, SteelOrbis had reported expectations of a “soft-sideways” trend for the month.
According to reports, heavy melting steel and P&S scrap pricing is trending from down $5-10/mt to sideways, depending on the region. In regions such as Indiana, mill buyers initially tried to decrease both cuts (heavy melting steel and P&S) and prime grades by as much as $10/mt but sources say they have met with resistance from scrap dealers. In the Ohio Valley, where mills purchased at higher prices in May compared to other regions, some transactions have been heard down $10-15/mt across all grades except prime. Across all regions, shredded scrap continues to be reported down at least $10/mt on average for June negotiations.
On the East coast, HMS I has remained stable and shredded scrap has dropped $8-11/mt, while busheling (prime) and P&S grades are generally following a sideways trend. According to the data below, the pricing on transactions for these two scrap grades trended stable at the bottom of the May range, but transactions on the higher end of the range disappeared. An East coast source states, “While we sold some prime sideways, the amount on demand was not notably high in our region.”
*Top number denotes change from the bottom of the previous range and bottom number denotes change from the top of the previous range.
| (EC, delivered to customer) | June | May | Change*(in mt terms) |
| HMS I | $249-254/mt $245-250/gt | $249-254/mt $245-250/gt | No change No change |
| Shredded | $276-279/mt $272-275/gt | $284-290/mt $280-285/gt | -$8/mt -$11/mt |
| Busheling | $376/mt $370/gt | $376-386/mt $370-380/gt | No change -$10/mt |
| P&S | $274/mt $270/gt | $274-279/mt $270-275/gt | No change -$5/mt |