Market players in the US have finally returned to work after a two-week holiday, and today, sources have confirmed that scrap trading has taken off “with a vengeance.”
Before the holidays, sources in the US domestic scrap market had speculated that prices would trade at up $20/gt ($20/mt), adding they’d “be surprised if prices came up more than that,” but now, early trading numbers are pointing to up $30/gt ($30/mt).
“We can confirm that one Midwest mill is up $30/gt ($30/mt),” a source said, adding that he’s heard that up $30/gt ($30/mt) transactions are taking place with some buyers in the South. “The market for this month is going to be up $30/mt ($30/gt) minimum, and there is already talk that prices could go up again in February.”
Another source was unwilling to make predictions about February just yet, but he agrees with an up $30/gt ($30/mt) market for January.
“I can confirm that two Midwest mills are up $30/gt ($30/mt), and I think we’ll see a lot of other mills follow those numbers,” he said. “There are a lot of motivated sellers at these numbers. I also think there might be some quiet adjustments up past $30/gt ($30/mt), for mills that needed to agree to ‘overpay’ for guaranteed tons. For now, it’s still early in the trading cycle and we’ll all know more later in the week.”
Scrap is not expected to settle until later in the week.