According to sources close to SteelOrbis, Nucor’s DRI facility near New Orleans, Louisiana is once again undergoing unplanned repairs this week. It had resumed operations in mid-March after a 5-week unplanned outage that began early in February which sent customers in pursuit of prime grade scrap and pig iron.
The tight supply resulted in the price of busheling reaching $350/mt delivered to mill as reported by SteelOrbis on February 10 and climbed in the Midwest to $400/mt delivered to mill in early March. Through the April buy-cycle, prime grade prices decreased $10/mt or less while other grades encountered losses of $20-35/mt depending on region.
One source noted, “It is unknown whether the DRI facility is at partial capacity or fully down, but the lack of DRI shipment forecasts is adding fuel to an already strong prime grade market.”