SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Gentlemen Start Your Engines

The engines are warming up and the expectation is for a better 2017 than 2016. The data we collected today was not significantly different than what we were seeing one week ago. Many mills are telling their customers they are on an “inquire only” basis when it comes to new spot orders. We are also hearing of mills advising their contract customers they need to book their February orders or they may lose their spot in February production.

The expectation has been for ferrous scrap prices to increase for the month of January. We have heard numbers bantered about ranging from +$20-$30 to as high as +$50 per gross ton. In SMU opinion, the higher scrap goes the more likely buyers will see larger increases than what have come out previously. Of course steel buyers are protesting and hoping that the steel mills will slow the pace of the increases so the buyers have more time to absorb the new numbers into their inventories and have a better chance of being able to pass the increases along to their customers.