Decision to discontinue 2ft rail crops Chicago assessment

Fastmarkets will discontinue its consumer buying assessment for steel scrap rail crops 2ft max, delivered mill Chicago, effective July 1 amid a sustained lack of liquidity for that grade in that market.

The decision follows a 30-day consultation period, launched on Monday May 8 and ending Wednesday June 7. The original pricing notice can be found here.

The specifications for the affected scrap grade are as follows:

MB-STE-0244
Assessment: Rail crops, 2’ max
Quality: Standard section, original weight of 50 pounds per yard and over, 18 inches long and under. Location: Delivered mill, US/Canada, specified city
Unit: USD per gross ton (Canadian cities in Canadian currency/net tons)
Publication: Monthly, typically before the 10th
ISRI Code: 28A

All short-term forecasts associated with these prices produced by Fastmarkets, if any, will also be discontinued.

To provide feedback on these prices, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data-submitter to the ferrous scrap assessments, please contact Amy Hinton at pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading: FAO: Amy Hinton re: Chicago 2ft rail crops.

To see all of Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents, go to https://www.fastmarkets.com/methodology.

What to read next
Fastmarkets has corrected its AG-CH-0054 Hides, branded cows, northern, $/piece, AG-CH-0056 Hides, branded cows, southwestern, $/piece, AG-CH-0050 Hides, heavy native cows, northern, $/piece, and AG-CH-0052 Hides, heavy native cows, southwestern, $/piece, which were published incorrectly on August 8, 2025. Fastmarkets has corrected the following prices: Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated to reflect this change. […]
Fastmarkets has corrected its US biodiesel SME and FAME fob New York Harbor and fob US Gulf, which were published incorrectly on Thursday August 7. Fastmarkets has corrected the prices for the following biodiesel assessments: EN-BD-0017 Biodiesel, SME, B100, flat price, fob US Gulf, $/gal was incorrectly published as $4.3388-4.5488 per gallon. This has been corrected […]
This reflects changing market dynamics with a preference from market participants for more visibility on a price for Laos-origin material while noting liquidity decline on an FOB Southern Turkey basis. The proposed price specifications will be as follows: Barite, drilling grade, unground lump, API, bulk, SG 4.10 fob Vietnam, $ per tonneQuality: API grade, SG 4.10 […]
The publication of the affected price was delayed for 29 minutes. The following assessment was published late: MB-ZN-0110 Zinc spot concentrate TC, cif China, $/per tonne This price is a part of the Fastmarkets Base Metals Physical Prices package. For more information or to provide feedback on the delayed publication of this price or if you […]
Fastmarkets proposes to launch magnesia, dead burned, 90% MgO, cif Europe, $/tonne and magnesia, dead burned, 97% MgO, cif Europe, $/tonne price assessments. Following preliminary discussions with the market, Fastmarkets received feedback that these grades of magnesium oxide have been increasingly used for producing refractory materials in Europe. The new launch would cover imports of […]
After consultation, Fastmarkets has launched this weekly price assessment. Turkish hot-rolled coil producers already have capacity installed for slab production, but numerous mills can also produce billet and their end product includes long steel as well. As a result, the installed capacity is not always sufficient to produce slab to be used for HRC production […]