Steel Mills Cancel March Scrap Orders, Anticipate Lower Priced Scrap in April

At the end of March the domestic steel mills cancelled any open portion of their ferrous scrap orders for March delivery with their scrap suppliers. This is always the first sign of an expectation of a drop in ferrous scrap prices once the negotiations begin in earnest for April delivery. Even with the tight supplies reported on prime grades earlier in March and the strong mill order books, all grades were cancelled.

There are many “theories” as to what could happen with scrap prices but no trades have been made yet. One of our sources told us that one of the mill-owned scrap companies was looking at down $20 on prime and $30 on the rest of the items. Another major mill is thinking down $20 on all items because down $30 couple disrupt the flows of obsolete grades. At the same time sellers seem willing to give up $10 on prime and $20 on other grades.