Early shred sale bets on sideways market

Aug 24, 2012 | 02:32 PM | Sean Davidson

Tags  ferrous scrap, shredded, Sean Davidson

NEW YORK — An early sale of shredded scrap to three large brokers in the Ohio Valley region has set a sideways tone for September’s domestic ferrous scrap market.

After initially committing 40,000 gross tons of shredded steel scrap to brokers earlier this past week, the seller based in upstate New York increased the total tonnage by another 10,000 tons Friday. The sales were completed at delivered prices between $400 and $408 per ton, which is sideways to where most shredded traded in August, he told AMM.

"Some major mills were at $400 for shred last month, while some with bad credit or other such issues were paying up to $410. My sales prices fell in that range and were therefore sideways," he said.

But while the price movement was sideways from the bulk of last month’s sales, the seller, known for completing sales early, said the latest sales actually represented a $10-per-ton increase for him after his previous month’s early sales for August delivery eventually finished $10 lower than settled prices.....