Activity within the
US domestic
scrap market was relatively quiet ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend, but activity within the
US domestic steel industry is expected move at full speed ahead for the rest of September. Sources close to SteelOrbis say the previously anticipated “strong sideways” trend for the East Coast / Philadelphia region is expected to hold, with September buys taking place between $5-$10/lt higher that last month’s transaction ranges of $330-$340/lt for HMS I/II, $365-$370/lt for shredded
scrap and $390-$395/lt for busheling
scrap.
A similar trend is expected to unfold in the Ohio Valley (Pittsburgh/Cleveland) area, where it is also believed that September buys taking place between $5-$10/lt higher that last month’s transaction ranges of $360-$370/lt for HMS I/II, $390-$400/lt for shredded
scrap and $420-$430/lt for busheling
scrap. “There’s a lot of optimism in the market,” according to one East Coast-based
scrap dealer. “Mills are operating at 80 percent capacity, their inventories are starting to run thin and they’re going to need to buy
scrap.”