Ferrous scrap prices appear to have reached a bottom in the United States and many market participants believe that while August will unlikely bring a meaningful increase, the tightness in shredded scrap hints that a recovery could be closer than initially expected.
Shredded scrap supply is currently tight, with several mills still in the market for material for July, sources said.A large national broker purchased a barge of shredded scrap at $285 per gross ton delivered from the East Coast to a mill in the Carolinas - $17 higher than the $268-per-ton monthly settlement for steel scrap shredded auto scrap, consumer buying price, delivered mill South Carolina on Friday July 5. "I don't know how true it is but [a large national broker] and several other mills raised their prices for shredder feed [by] $5-10 [per net ton]. Seems they cannot buy the tonnage they want?," according to a Southern shredder source, who was skeptical that the small increase could have a meaningful impact on his inbound flows - which have been "way off." Mills did not have an easy time filling their programs this month due the US' Independence Day holiday on...