US domestic scrap prices settle mostly sideways for December

When domestic scrap prices finally settled this past week, the market went largely sideways with pockets of weakness in some areas of the country. On Tuesday, sources told SteelOrbis that at least one East Coast mill bought scrap at prices that were down $10/lt from November, as the seller "panicked" that prices could go down further and sold quickly. However, even as the mills pressured scrap dealers for a discount to November prices, the majority of sellers resisted, resulting in scrap trading sideways for December. In the major Midwest cities such as Chicago and Detroit, as well as in the Southeast, scrap prices are unchanged from November, although there were a few deals done at prices just a couple dollars lower. Meanwhile, scrap prices settled sideways to down $10/lt in the East Coast.

For the most part, EAF producers are keeping scrap inventories on a tight leash at the moment, and even though scrap availability is relatively low, demand levels are also poor. Further, some domestic mills have been scooping up pig iron in the last week for about $403-$413/mt CFR NOLA for December and January shipment. Another factor impacting the domestic scrap market in December has been weak export prices from the US to the Far East and Turkey, with some concerns that the market may not recover in time to give a boost to US domestic prices in January. Nonetheless, predictions from most dealers are pointed decidedly higher for January, with some anticipating a big jump in scrap prices in the New Year.