Sellers in the United States' ferrous scrap market will likely enjoy a third consecutive price increase in January, with domestic steel mills continuing to strike post-market deals above December levels in order to secure enough material to cover their programs.
"Fundamentally, business isn't really that much better but the mills beat the prices down so hard that scrap just dried up. They basically ran themselves out of material," a midwestern broker said. A second Midwestern broker agreed, noting that scrap prices in the Midwest will have to catch up with surrounding markets. "Looking at the local price versus what scrap is being sold for on the [Mississippi] River and in the South, it feels like we could get another $20 in January," the second Midwestern broker said. The export market has risen by $23 per tonne since the official domestic trade ended, fueling expectations of a rise in January while...