Scrap consumers indicated they were operating at "almost full capacity" in order to meet demand, adding that they have had to hold back from taking on more business.
"We're busy, we're running all our furnaces. We had good production in October and are expecting good production in November," one consumer source said. "I'm hearing some ridiculous numbers [for scrap]. The ingot price has been steadily moving up, and when you throw the whole freight fiasco in the mix and the tightness in scrap I see it continuing to rise."Companies across the North American metals industry are now struggling to find trucks available to transport cargoes, and even for those that own their own fleet the lack of available drivers has caused problems for months. "It [has] not really impacted us," the same consumer said of freight. "On the sales side, we have our freight lanes pretty much established. On the scrap side we predominantly buy delivered, so it does impact us from the standpoint that our suppliers are having difficulty getting trucks and/or drivers."In...