Posted on 15 Oct 2024
US scrap prices settled higher in some regions during October trading last week, recording their first remarkable increase since the beginning of the year, notes Kallanish.
Many market participants had questioned an uptick until last week when trading started and most preparations were for a sideways trend. However, domestic suppliers finally achieved an increase of $20/gross ton and even more in some regions, including the South and Midwest.
Strong export demand last week, coupled with low inventories and uncertainty arising from Hurricane Milton damage, caused Southern mills to increase bids. However, continuing mill outages impacting demand prevented prices from rising around Chicago and Detroit, with prices moving sideways for another month. Consequently, pricing was largely regional during October trading.
Early expectations for November are meanwhile diverging. While some market participants say prices will continue to rise until year-end, others say November might see mostly a sideways trend, with only Chicago and Detroit mills realising their delayed increases.
For US West Coast business, the Taiwanese scrap market continued to improve last week, with sellers raising offers for containerised HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap by $10/tonne to $325-335/t cfr Taiwan. However, Taiwanese importers who were digesting the price upswing and remained cautious, placed bids at $315-320/t cfr, falling short of suppliers' target prices.
On the East Coast, the increase in the number of offers towards the end of last week caused scrap prices to fall in Turkey. Although US-origin HMS 1&2 80:20 prices started the week at around $388/t cfr Turkey, mills, stepping back from the market, decreased their target prices to low the $380s towards the end of the week.
After the market failed to find support from China’s Ministry of Finance briefing on Saturday, participants expect US-origin HMS 1&2 80:20 prices to fall below $380/t cfr Turkey this week amid sufficient supply.
Source:Kallanish
