After
US busheling and shredded
scrap increased by $50/lt ($49.21 /mt) in January,
US scrap prices are not expected to see another significant price hike in February.
Currently,
US busheling
scrap prices are at the level of $385 to $395/lt ($379 to $389/mt), shredded
scrap prices range from $340 to $350/lt ($335 to $344/mt), and HMS I prices (which rose by $15/lt or $14.76 /mt in January) stand at $295 to $305/lt ($290 to $300/mt) on the
US East Coast. In February, market insiders expect that
US prime grade
scrap prices may go sideways to slightly up while
US cut grade
scrap prices could go sideways to slightly down with the potential for a $5 to $15/lt ($4.92 to $14.76/mt) price decrease.
Domestic
scrap purchasing activity picked up strongly in January, as domestic mills had not made any significant buys in November and December and needed to secure their inventories for the winter months. Furthermore, with the winter storms that have been slamming the East Coast,
scrap collection has slowed, and this also contributed to prices rising in January. With
US steel production and melting still inching upwards, it is expected that domestic mills will have to buy some
scrap next month, though probably not in great quantities.
Meanwhile,
Turkey, one of the leading
scrap importers from the
US, contrary to early expectations, is not much buying
scrap from the
US this month. Turkish mills purchased heavily from
Europe this month leaving some regular
US scrap exporters disappointed. The lack of Turkish buying activity from the
US has contributed to a slowing overall export
scrap market, and for this reason, there is a chance that domestic cut grade
scrap prices may not be able to maintain their current level next month.
The latest USITC data shows that the total amount of ferrous
scrap exports from the
US in November 2009 was 1,371,000 mt, representing an increase of 242,000 mt when compared to the figure of 1,129,000 mt in October.
The main recipients of shredded
scrap from the
US in November were:
China, at 328,000 mt;
Turkey, at 74,000 mt;
Malaysia, at 62,000 mt;
India, at
59,000 mt;
Taiwan, at 39,000 mt; Peru, at 31,000 mt;
Mexico, at 30,000 mt; and
Pakistan, at 28,000 mt. Countries that imported smaller amounts of shredded
scrap from
US during the month include
Egypt, Vietnam,
Indonesia, Greece and Singapore.
For HMS I grade
scrap, the top recipients of
US exports in November were:
Turkey, at 123,000 mt;
Taiwan, at 89,000 mt; South
Korea, at 60,000 mt;
China, at 37,000 mt;
Malaysia, at 21,000 mt; and
Egypt, at 19,000 mt. Vietnam,
India,
Indonesia,
Pakistan, Greece and
Mexico also imported some tonnage of HMS I grade
scrap from the
US during the period.