US domestic CRC prices continue to hold steady, in the range of $36-$38 cwt. ($794-$838/mt or $720-$760/nt), ex-mill, although hopes that the possibility of higher scrap prices in September, would help push prices upward, have started to wane.
Yesterday, SteelOrbis reported that while the initial expectation for September scrap prices put the market at strong sideways, the new expectation is that the market will be weaker than initially suspected. The current forecast is that scrap will trend down by $10/gt ($10/mt), across grades. In the absence of higher scrap prices and improved CRC market demand, many suspect that higher CRC prices will not come into play.
“The mills are wanting to get prices as high as they can moving into contract season, but market conditions don’t necessarily support that,” a source said. “There’s also the widespread expectation that prices will start to soften again toward the end of September, so unless someone absolutely needs steel now, buyers are likely to hold off on placing orders in the immediate term.”