Posted on 12 Sep 2023
Trading in the US domestic market kicked off last Friday after a Midwest mill bid for prime grade scrap at $50/gross ton down from August deliveries, notes Kallanish.
The same mill and another mill in the southeast nevertheless announced unchanged prices from the prior month for obsolete grades.
Some US mills’ planned outages in September and October are negatively impacting their demand for scrap. On the other hand, as the supply of obsolete grades is quite tight and export demand continues, demand and supply are seen in balance. However, for prime grades, supply is seen outpacing demand, pressuring prices.
Although negotiations are still underway amid weakening sheet values, production outages and possible automotive strikes, market participants find a remarkable improvement in prime grade prices unlikely.
The market is expected to settle by the end of the current week.
On the West Coast, US-origin containerised HMS 1&2 80:20 prices remained mostly flat throughout last week. While local mill Feng Hsin has kept scrap purchase prices unchanged this week, offers for containerised US-origin HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap were maintained at $375/tonne cfr Taiwan, with the latest deal prices at $370-372/t cfr Taiwan.
On the East Coast, following the revival in Turkish scrap demand towards the end of last week, prices recovered in line with the improvement in market sentiment and higher freight rates.
On Monday, a US-origin booking from the US was heard at $377/t cfr Turkey for HMS 1&2 80:20 and $397/t cfr for shredded. The same mill was reported to have booked HMS 90:10 from the same supplier at $382/t cfr. Turkish mills’ demand for scrap is expected to continue this week as their requirements for October-shipment cargoes are not yet fully met.
Source:Kallanish
