Final Thoughts

Dealers are predicting (positioning?) that ferrous scrap prices will move sideways as we move into the month of February. We have been told Turkey is not buying much scrap as they have scaled back production levels to about 70 percent. The current market is a supply driven market (as opposed to demand from the steel mills). The value of the dollar (see Premium report published earlier this week) is keeping the lid on exports.

One of our sources from the east coast told us, “From the people I am speaking with over the last few days, and I am on the same page with them, the market should be sideways in February.  The eastern part of the country has seen obsolete flows slow dramatically from the middle of January onward.  They will not get much better in February I imagine in the aftermath of the recent snow storm.  Mill demand may not be as good as it was at the beginning of January but many of the mills I have spoken to have not received all that they ordered this month either.  Railroad traffic is intermittent in part due to the weather.”