Ferrous scrap price drop not over, sources say

Jun 19, 2012 | 05:18 PM | Sean Davidson

Tags  ferrous scrap, scrap prices, Steel Success Strategies, Alexei Mordashov, Severstal, Accenture, John Lichtenstein, China Steel Tsou Jo-chi

NEW YORK — Ferrous scrap prices are likely to continue weakening next month as the market attempts to test the floor, and there is speculation that at least three steel mills will make minimal or no buys in July, sources told AMM.

Several scrap dealers have already lowered prices at the scale in anticipation of a price drop in July, market players said Tuesday on the sidelines of the Steel Success Strategies XXVII conference in New York, co-hosted by AMM and World Steel Dynamics Inc. (WSD).

Different sources speculated that the drop wouldn’t be as severe as June’s and could range between $15 and $30 per gross ton on prime and obsolete grades of scrap.

"We have lowered prices at our yards by about $20 per gross ton," one scrap dealer said. "Flows dropped a little bit after we lowered our feedstock prices at our yards because some competitors are still paying higher prices. But we’d rather have less scrap and more cash going into July."....