Section: News

Steel Dynamics expects reduced profitability from its steel operations in fourth quarter compared to third. Lower steel shipments, customer destocking and seasonal demand weakness are impacting the steel platform and, in particular, commodity grade hot roll products. Lower steel pricing will offset any benefits from lower ferrous scrap costs. Fabricated steel joist and decking products […] The post SDI Guidance Expects Lower Profit in Q4 appeared first on Steel Market Update.

In the first ten months of this year bulk scrap exports were 10,889,000 tonnes for an annual rate of 14,519,000 tonnes, down by 15.6 percent from the first ten months of last year. The tonnages shown in Figure 1 are based on three month moving averages (3MMA) for 2015 and on the annual monthly average […] The post Ferrous Scrap Exports through October Down 15.6% YOY appeared first on Steel Market Update.

Ferrous scrap prices are one of the key indicators to watch as the market determines if we have reached the bottom in the slide in flat rolled prices and, if prices will rebound from here. The thought process has been that a move higher in scrap will help change the psychology of the market and […] The post December Scrap Prices: Sideways to Up $20 appeared first on Steel Market Update.

Last week we received information about the expectation for ferrous scrap price negotiations between the domestic mills and their scrap suppliers for the month of December. Over the weekend one of our east coast scrap sources provided us more details as to what they expect this week as negotiations begin in earnest: I am not […] The post Shredded Scrap Poised to Rise in East, Sideways Elsewhere? appeared first on Steel Market Update.

We learned late this afternoon that two domestic steel mills are offering to pay higher prices for shredded scrap from east coast dealers. Shredded scrap buy offers have been made at $180-$185 per gross ton up $10 to $15 per gross ton higher than November numbers (and higher than October numbers since November prices moved […] The post December Scrap Pricing: Next Move is Up appeared first on Steel Market Update.

Even though I personally believe steel prices will probably not go too much lower from here, we still have the SMU Price Momentum Indicator pointing toward lower pricing. We are looking for signs that the slide may be about over but, we continue to see weakness on hot rolled products. We got a note from […] The post Final Thoughts appeared first on Steel Market Update.

In the first nine months of this year bulk scrap exports were 9,968,048 tonnes for an annual rate of 13,290,731 tonnes, down by 13.8 percent from the first nine months of last year. The tonnages shown in Figure 1 are based on three month moving averages (3MMA) for 2015 and on the annual monthly average […] The post Ferrous Scrap Exports Down 13.8% for First 9 Months 2015 appeared first on Steel Market Update.

On Thursday we reported scrap prices moved sideways on certain grades in the east and were down by as much as $30 per gross ton the further west you went. Chicago ended up the week with the weakest prices as many mills did not buy due to tepid demand and a desire to drive inventories […] The post Regional Scrap Prices Come into Focus appeared first on Steel Market Update.

Our scrap sources reported ferrous scrap prices as having the most strength in the east where export pricing has bounced off the bottom and momentum has apparently turned in that region. One of the east coast dealers told us that scrap flows are “atrocious” and if it wasn’t for the “terrible demand situation the market […] The post Scrap Prices Take Another Dip Lower but Dealers Think This is the Bottom… appeared first on Steel Market Update.

The following article was written by contributing writer Damon Sun of Daido International. The Asian ferrous scrap markets are still very weak, but there are some positives recently. Rebar demand seemed to have picked up some in the last two weeks and consequently, there has been more activity in the containerized scrap markets.  For reference, […] The post Asian Scrap Markets Improving: Dead Cat Bounce or Beginning of a Trend? appeared first on Steel Market Update.