Ferrous market shapes up with Detroit buy

After a considerable wait, the market for ferrous scrap for May shipment has started to form. The Detroit district has entered the market buying prime grades at sideways pricing and obsolete grades at down $20/gt from April levels.

Ferrous scrap was generally predicted to trade in a “soft sideways” manner for May. So, those expectations seemed to have been met.

The Detroit buy should form a platform for other mills to adopt as the market settles over the next several days.

Here are the delivered to the mill prices:

#1 busheling	$420 gt	sideways
shredded	$395 gt	down $20/gt
plate and structural	$350 gt	down $20/gt

Update

It did not take long for other districts to enter the market after Detroit dipped their toe in. For the most part, the other districts followed along with minor variations.

The Philadelphia market went sideways across the board mainly due to the ongoing strength in the export arena.

Several markets only went down $10/gt on obsolescent grades, but prime traded sideways in all markets thus far. These prices should not draw too much resistance, if any, according to several sources.