The United States' October ferrous scrap trade's stressful late start and private deals added confusion to a scenario that was already perplexing after one steel producer made an unexpected debut splash, leap-frogging into the market in late September at flat pricing for prime grades.
"The market was a mess, but that is due to prices hitting an inflection point and bottoming, which is strange because October is never a good month," a seller into the Cleveland and Detroit markets said.The market is barely finished, and scrap metal recyclers - convinced October is the bottom - have begun hedging bets about when the next big pop occurs.The only thing standing in the way of upside is the multitude of mill outages scheduled throughout the fourth quarter that will limit buying. "November will be up and December will be the big up," according to a shredder source, who expects the shredded market to bounce up by $50 per gross ton in the next few months, including the January 2022 buy. "The general sentiment is markets will be rising towards the end of the year," a seller into the Mississippi River...