Davis Index’ weekly north and south UK HMS 1&2 (80:20) ferrous scrap indices were unchanged at £145/mt ($183/mt) delivered dockside, and £146/mt delivered, respectively, on Tuesday.
Yard flows have improved after much of the merchant ferrous scrap trade returned to work following the easing of restrictions in the UK over the past few weeks. As a result, bulk ferrous scrap processors have been able to suppress price strength while also slowly building inexpensive inventories and protecting relatively healthy margins.
Some scrap yards have built sufficient stocks to be able to turn down offers exceeding £150/mt for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from opportunistic suppliers looking to track the strength in major seaborne benchmarks.
In fact, Davis Index’ HMS 1&2 (80:20) US-origin Turkish ferrous scrap index has strengthened by $14/mt over the past two weeks to stand at $266.91/mt cfr as of June 15.
The weekly index for north and south UK OA (Plate & Structural) ferrous scrap was unchanged at £170/mt delivered dockside over the past week, while the index for north and south UK 5A/5C (frag feed) was flat at £85/mt delivered over the same period.
Looking ahead, some market participants expect their dockside ferrous scrap purchase prices to climb by £5/mt in the next week or so as they are unable to hold off price hikes for much longer.
(£1 = $1.26)