Davis Index’s monthly UK 1&2, 3B, and OA ferrous scrap consumer indices increased by £15-20/mt ($21-28/mt) to £285/mt, £310/mt, and £315/mt, delivered mill, respectively, after most mill-yard negotiations concluded by mid-May.
This month’s transactions varied by grade, supplier, and settlement date with prices that settled anywhere between £5-25/mt up compared with the prior month.
Domestic merchants who settled earlier in the month with British smelters, failed to benefit from the full strength in export prices, given that they only recently transpired into much higher UK dockside purchase prices.
UK dockside HMS 1&2 purchase prices nudged £5/mt higher from mid-April to £238/mt, delivered dockside, at the beginning of May, and then climbed by a more robust £20/mt to £258/mt by the middle of this month.
Premiums for new production ferrous scrap grades, particularly 4A/4C and 8A/8B, widened further this month in response to limited availability from relatively depressed vehicle production, in part caused by a global shortage of semiconductor chips.
As a result, Davis Index’s monthly UK 4A/4C and 8A/8B ferrous scrap consumer indices jumped by £52-57/mt to £345-355/mt, delivered mill, following the conclusion of mill-yard negotiations in mid-May.
(£1 = $1.41)