Robust export demand for brass and copper scrap is weighing on the domestic prices of scrap metal in the United States, with brass scrap prices reaching record highs in the first week of the New Year.
"We have never been busier, and I have never seen prices of copper and brass scrap like this," a brass ingot maker said. "For the first time, we are paying more for brass scrap for melting into ingots than we get for selling copper scrap to mills."A scrap trader said that the unusually high prices for copper and brass scrap was a result of "short term tightening as people restock to start the year.""With Comex values soaring, I expect spreads to widen out," the trader said, referring to a Comex copper price that has...