Secondary’s a Shrinking Market, Say Service Center Execs

The secondary steel business is shrinking. Not only are quality-conscious mills producing fewer nonprime coils, there are fewer distributors in the business of buying them and fewer customers interested in using them.

Steel Market Update interviewed several veterans of the secondary steel market, who all agreed the business is changing—and not always for the better. “There used to be an opportunity to make a good living selling secondary, but not so much anymore,” said one executive. “The mills are getting better at producing less secondary, so they don’t need as many of us as they did in the past,” added another distributor. “It will always be a part of the steel business, but it will be different in the future.”