Steel scrap prices, despite reduced activities in many of the regions due to winters and Christmas vacation, continued to climb up last week, albeit at much slower pace.
In the USA, the domestic ferrous scrap market indicates an enhanced upswing due to decreased arising of local ferrous scrap and a seasonal scarcity of ferrous scrap cargoes in winter.
The general transaction levels are reported to be about USD 325 per tonne for HMS 80:20 and USD 345 for shredded scrap on CNF basis in most of the important buying markets.
With the domestic ferrous scrap market on the rise in the USA, offer prices of US ferrous scrap exports to East Asia are trending upward as well. We have heard that some offers began to top USD 360 per tonne CNF for No1 HMS last week.