In the early days of April, there was a lot of uncertainty as to how much scrap prices would fall. Some SteelOrbis sources said they’d heard some mills would not be buying, whereas others made some buys toward the end of March.
“For the first few days of the month, it was a lot of ‘to be determined,’” a source noted.
And while it appears as if scrap prices have settled, what is notable is the lack of data points.
“There were a lot of mills that just didn’t buy,” another source added. “Quite a few of the mills operate with a two-month scrap inventory so they have some padding. When you take that and combine it with the fact that mills’ capacity utilization rate has fallen to 68.5%, it’s no great surprise that mills weren’t rushing to buy scrap this month.”
Also notable is the slow trickle of scrap that’s coming into the yards. “Intake is way, way down,” another source added. “There’s nothing that’s coming into the yards, but that’s to be expected right now based on everything that’s going on with COVID-19.”
This month’s settled prices are listed in the charts below.
| Ohio/Pennsylvania | April | March | Change |
| Delivered to customer | |||
| HMS I | $193/mt | $244/mt | down $51/mt |
| $190/gt | $240/gt | down $50/gt | |
| Shredded | $218-$224/mt | $269-$274/mt | down $51/mt |
| $215-$220/gt | $265-$270/gt | down $50/gt | |
| Busheling | $279-$284/mt | $310-$315/mt | down $31 |
| $275-$280/gt | $305-$310/gt | down $30/gt | |
| P&S | $208/mt | $259/gt | down $51/mt |
| $205/gt | $255/gt | down $50/gt |
| East coast | April | March | Change |
| Delivered to customer | |||
| HMS I | $193/mt | $234/mt | down $41/mt |
| $190/gt | $230/gt | down $40/gt | |
| Shredded | $234/mt | $274/mt | down $40/mt |
| $230/gt | $270/gt | down $40/gt | |
| Busheling | **$269-$279/mt | **$269-$279/mt | Estimated/ no activity |
| **265-$275/gt | **265-$275/gt | Estimated/ no activity | |
| P&S | $203/mt | $244/mt | down $41/mt |
| $200/gt | $240/gt | down $40/gt |