Published by:Lisa Gordon<>
28 Apr 2025 @ 16:14 UTC

Shredders in the US continue to lower scale buying prices at a swift pace as buyers and sellers anticipate a healthy drop in the May ferrous scrap trade.

One mill with shredding capacity went so far as to advise customers on April 23 of a midmonth drop in scale prices, citing what it perceives as a result of a strong negative market sentiment as we look into May.
More than one scrap seller agreed that a large drop is looming, adding that their biggest concern is being able to place their tons in an environment where supply more than outweighs demand.
Two Midwest mills caused further concern for May after they advised customers on April 23 that they were shutting down scales in the the week beginning Sunday April 27, which means suppliers won’t be able to ship.
With the month ending on Thursday April 30, that means some sellers are facing the prospect of receiving end-of-month cancellation notices on unshipped scrap that was prevented from shipping.
That is [worthless] and you can quote me, a Detroit seller said, echoing the frustration of many regarding the scales being closed during the final week of the month ahead of a likely falling market.
One of the mills that will not receive scrap during the week to April 30 has an outage and is purportedly swimming in material, a second Detroit seller said.
There is an overall expectation that the monthly ferrous scrap trade will drag out due to a scrap surplus exacerbated by a weak export market.
While prime is the strongest grade, a mill buyer said there is already a healthy spread between No1 Busheling and shredded scrap, so that prime will fall in sympathy with the other grades. The spread between the two grades ranges $27-45 per gross ton depending on city, including in the Alabama, Arkansas-Tennessee, Chicago and Cleveland markets.
Prime will have to fall something, if secondary grades fall hard, the mill buyer said.
Sellers expect prime to hold up the best and possibly drop by $20 per ton, but said that shredded could be down by $30-40 per ton, or even more, due to its availability.
If export wasn’t tanking, then maybe prime might have stayed the same, the Detroit seller said.
A seller into Pittsburgh said that shred is going to get massacred and drag down cuts with it, but tariffs on pig iron should limit what happens to prime grades.
A second seller into Pittsburgh said that while shredded is oversupplied, cuts are not in overabundance and should not drop as much as shredded.
Mills are going to push the [scrap] pricing down while holding steel prices steady as long as they can, but lead times are not kicking out, a seller into the Chicago market said.
US shredder feed prices continued their downward trend this week, falling across three regions over the week to Monday April 28. The decline was led by a drop of $8.15 per ton in the Southeast, while prices in the Ohio Valley fell by $5.98 per ton and prices in the Midwest fell by $4.98 per ton.
Fastmarkets’steel scrap shredder feed, fob Midwest assessment declined to $210.09 per gross ton on Monday, from $215.07 per ton on April 21, reaching a nine-week low.
The weekly assessment forsteel scrap shredder feed, fob Ohio Valleyfell to $182.88 per ton on Monday, from $188.86 per ton previously, falling to February levels.
And Fastmarkets’ assessment forsteel scrap shredder feed, fob Southeastdropped to $148.65 per ton on Monday, from $156.80 per ton the week prior, reaching January price levels.