Ferrous Scrap Prices Jump in September

Ferrous scrap prices exceeded even the bullish expectations heading into September as the market settled up $20-35/GT on prime scrap and up $30-55/GT on obsolescent grades, depending on the region of the country. Sources expect prices to move still higher in October, lending support to higher finished steel prices.

Demand from U.S. mills picked up at the same time as the scrap supply was shrinking due to export strength and lower flows into the dealers’ yards, explained one scrap executive. “The mills seemed to think they could dictate prices and dropped them to unreasonable levels in June and July and attempted it in August, even in the face of heated export markets on both coasts. How long did they think this strategy would work before things got out of hand as they seem to be currently?”