US scrap prices seem to be trending downward, as the scrap supply is improving and the market is experiencing a price correction.
There were limited scrap purchasing activities seen in the second half of April. As the warm weather allowed better scrap flow into dealers' yards and into the domestic mills, scrap availability improved, so the domestic mills were not in a hurry to buy scrap. As a result, the US scrap prices have loosened their upward momentum.
On the other hand, the domestic scrap prices kept going up in the past several months and market insiders think that because prices went up too high, the market is going through a price correction now. Moreover, East Coast export scrap prices to Turkey have come down approximately $40/mt from two weeks ago due to lack of scrap demand in that region this month, and that loosened the strength of the domestic scrap prices as well.
Therefore, the US scrap prices are trending downward, and market sources expect the domestic scrap prices to come down as much as $50/long ton ($49.21/mt) in May. In April, East Coast prices for busheling were in the level of $460 to $470/lt ($452.74 to $462.58/mt), shredded scrap prices stood at $390 to $400/lt ($383.84 to $393.68/mt), and HMS I prices ranged between $370 and $380/lt ($364.16 to $374/mt).