Prices for austenitic grades of alloy steel scrap in the UK domestic market decreased this week, despite high nickel costs, because of low demand from stainless steel mills, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday September 13.
Austenitic alloy steel scrap prices are usually closely tied to those of nickel. Indeed, since the beginning of July, austenitic steel scrap prices have tracked the strongly upward trend in the nickel market. But European stainless mills have been pushing for ever-larger discounts for the nickel component of the scrap. The reason for this is that European mills must compete in the domestic stainless...