The US ferrous scrap export market has plummeted on all fronts, with no export activity on the East Coast, a sharply discounted West Coast sale and chatter that an East Coast dock intends to drop prices by a whopping $30 per gross ton in the next seven days.
One East Coast dock, which has lowered prices by $10 per gross ton since the end of November, now plans to drop another $30 per ton by next week due to its poor outlook for export sales. The combined decreases will decrease prices by $40 per ton in less than a month's time. On the West Coast, a South Korean producer booked 45,000 tonnes of an 80:20 mix of No1 and No2 heavy melting scrap (HMS) from a West Coast exporter at $335 per tonne cfr on November 30. This sale was priced $22 per tonne lower than the preceding West Coast cargo sold to Taiwan at $357 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20) in early October.Fastmarkets AMM's West Coast ferrous scrap export index for heavy melt dropped by 6.7% week on week, to stand at $305 per tonne fob Los Angeles on Wednesday December 5, compared with $327 per...