US Scrap Trends Outlook: April

North American steel scrap prices are expected to rise in April, for a fifth straight month, supported by a lingering shortage of certain grades of material and steady demand

Steel scrap prices in April

The bullish sentiment held the Trend Indicator in positive territory with a reading of 58.8 for April, down from 65.2 for March. The Outlook’s prediction model suggests that steel scrap prices have the potential to rise by an average of 6.3% in April.

That expectation comes amid reports that steel mills were unable to fully cover all their requirements in March, with domestic steel scrap inventory levels depleted in the wake of robust domestic and overseas demand in recent weeks.

Market responds to rising steel scrap prices

Just over half of respondents to the survey expected prices to rise in April, while 28% said that prices would trade sideways. More than one third of respondents said that stronger demand would be the main driver behind the upswing in prices, while just under 20% anticipated unchanged market conditions, and a similar amount expected demand to weaken compared with March.

Prime steel scrap prices are due to outperform their obsolete and shredded counterparts once again in April, while the overall trend consensus fell to 57% compared with 61% in March, suggesting confidence in the market’s direction has softened.

Make sense of the US steel scrap market and track the critical indicators impacting price movements in our April outlook.

What to read next
Fastmarkets has corrected its MB-STE-0523 Steel scrap shredded auto scrap, consumer buying price, delivered mill, $/gross ton, weekly composite, which was published incorrectly since June 14.
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the pricing frequency of its MB-STE-0889 steel scrap, index, heavy recycled steel materials, cfr east China, and MB-STE-0895 steel scrap, index, heavy recycled steel materials, cfr north China to once a month from the current weekly basis.
Fastmarkets will launch its new suite of US black mass payable indicators on Wednesday August 7, following a one-month consultation period.
Fastmarkets proposes to discontinue its weekly price assessment for MB-IRO-0001 Pig iron export, fob main port Baltic Sea, CIS.
Green hydrogen is emerging as a game-changer for decarbonizing entire industries heavily reliant on fossil fuels. Major commercial sectors like aviation, shipping, and steel production are looking to green hydrogen as the next big thing to replace fossil fuels and achieve sustainability
Aluminum scrap generation in Europe is expected to decrease in the current quarter due to lower demand from downstream metal producers amid the domestic seasonal summer slowdown, according to the latest market overview from the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR)