Although most US domestic scrap prices trended down during this month’s buy cycle, buyers throughout the US say they’re expecting an uptrend in March.
“The math on this is pretty simple,” an East coast-based source said. “The surplus of scrap has run out. It’s gone. And if you look at what’s going on with the export market, export itself is looking strong.”
For example, earlier today, SteelOrbis reported that 22,000 mt of HMS I/II 80:20 scrap was sold to an Iskenderun-based Turkish mill at a price point of $410/mt CFR. Prior to this deal, the estimations for ex-US HMS I/II 80:20 scrap were trending in the range of $400-405/mt CFR.
“When you look at the support that the market is getting from the exporters, compounded with strong demand from the domestic mills, it makes sense that the market could come up,” he continued.
Other sources agreed.
“The snow is certainly impacting things,” another source added. On Wednesday, news outlets reported that a winter weather alert for snow and ice storms was issued for most of the Southern and Eastern US. The area of impact spanned from Texas through New Jersey.
“A lot of the yards are essentially hand to mouth because scrap just isn’t coming in,” the source continued. “We had to raise our prices just to get enough scrap in to finish our orders.”
A final source said he’s seen a similar trend. “I think that maybe the down pricing we saw this month would have stuck if the weather were better, but for now, the weather isn’t helping, the snow isn’t helping and the scrap yards are saying that inflow is dead.”