US Shredded Scrap average prices advance to $260.80 a long ton in March

UNITED STATES April 21 2015 9:35 AM
NEW YORK (Scrap Register): United States shredded scrap average monthly prices for domestic deliveries advanced by $3.80 a long ton to $260.80 a long ton (delivered mill) during March.

According to the Steel Index, this came as the market bounced back somewhat from the large falls in pricing seen since the turn of the year. These price falls were large enough to halt flows into yards, eroding the over-supply of shredded material and returning the market to a more balanced state.

This came despite many outages and utilization rate reductions at blast furnaces throughout the region. EAF mills reportedly picked up much of this slack as demand improved from recent weeks.

However, the same could not be said for prime grades, with prices falling around $20 a long ton over the course of “buy-week”. It came as a surprise to some that the severely over-supplied primes did not drag shredded down with them-in fact the opposite happened, with the lack of availability of shredded serving to boost prime demand and support its pricing.

At the close of “buy-week” in the Midwest prices rose by $4a long ton, reflecting the fact that shredded had traded in the range of flat to up $10 a long ton depending on the mill, timing and location.