Sentiment within the US domestic scrap market largely mirrors what was reported last week. Scrap dealers throughout the Midwest and East coast continue to suspect that the market is set to trend downward during next month’s buy cycle.
“I think everyone thinks that down $10/gt ($10/mt) in February is pretty much baked in at this point,” a source said. “Flows aren’t bad considering the weather, exports are down, and I don’t think the mills are going to be met with a lot of blowback unless they try to take the market down further than that.”
Another source agreed.
“Flows are still OK, but if there’s major weather event or snowstorm, things could dry up, but for now it’s pretty stable,” he said. “I think there’s a chance we may see mills push for up to down $20/gt ($20/mt) in the Ohio Valley, but we’ll have to stay tuned for that.”