US scrap prices show mixed trends in early February

As of early February, US scrap prices have shown mixed trends, with the amount and direction of the price movement varying depending on both scrap grade and region.

In the first week of the month, US prime grade scrap prices went up in the US Midwest and South, whereas prices registered a decrease along the East Coast. For US cut grade scrap, prices have trended sideways to slightly down, depending on the scrap type (HMS or shredded) and region.

With several blast furnaces resuming operations in recent weeks, increasing scrap demand has strengthened the busheling prices for domestic mills in major manufacturing regions such as Indiana, Chicago and Pittsburgh. However, lower busheling prices are seen on the East Coast due to the sluggish demand from the local and export markets. Respectively, prime grade scrap prices in the Midwest and on the East Coast have registered an increase or decrease of approximately $10/long ton ($9.84/mt) when compared to January prices. Currently, busheling prices can be found at as high as $405 to $410/lt ($398.60 to $408.45 /mt) in the Midwest and as low as $375 to 385/lt ($369.08 to $378.92/mt) along the East Coast.

Meanwhile, domestic cut grade scrap prices lost their luster throughout the US in early February, due to both weak finished product demand and softening export scrap prices. On the East Coast US shredded scrap prices have come down approximately $10/lt ($9.84/mt) and HMS I prices have been reduced by about $5/lt ($4.92/mt) from January prices; in the Midwest, prices for both types of scrap have generally trended sideways to slightly down of approximately $5/lt ($4.92/mt) from January. On the US East Coast, current shredded scrap prices are currently at the level of $330 to $340/lt ($324.79 to $334.63/mt) and HMS I prices stand at $290 to $300/lt ($285.42 to $295.26/mt).

As the domestic mills secured most of their winter scrap tonnage requirements in January, there is not much buying activity to be seen in the first week of February. However, although the mills are not in a hurry to buy scrap at the moment, it is expected that they will still buy some smaller amounts of scrap in February to continue increasing their steel production; for that reason, market sources mention that February prices are still in the process of developing and are not “set in stone” yet.