RMDAS prices portray November stability

Recycled steel prices in the United States in late October and the first three weeks of November changed little from the previous 30-day trading period, according to Pittsburgh-based MSA Inc.’s Raw Material Data Aggregation Service (RMDAS).

National averages calculated by RMDAS for three benchmark grades show the value of prompt and shredded scrap rising by up to $2 per ton from Oct. 20 to Nov. 19, while the value of No. 1 heavy melting steel (HMS) dropped by $3 per ton.

The average value of the RMDAS prompt industrial composite grade (consisting of No. 1 busheling, No. 1 bundles and No. 1 factory bundles) continues to hover in the $400-per-ton range, though mills in the RMDAS North Midwest region recently have been paying $411 per ton.

Mills paid an average of $370 per ton for the RMDAS No. 2 shredded scrap grade in late October and into November, with little variation between the three RMDAS regions (North Central/East, North Midwest and South).

The No. 1 HMS grade fetched an average of $339 per ton in the South region in the most recent 30-day trading period but just $330 per ton in the more export-dependent North Central/East region, consisting of the New England states, the Mid-Atlantic region, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and most of Indiana.

Domestic mills should be providing an active market for recycled steel based on output figures gathered by the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).

According to AISI, through mid-November, mills in the U.S. made 3.2 percent more steel compared with the same time frame in 2024.

U.S. steel output did not start 2025 on an upward trajectory, but melt shops have been busier as the year proceeds. In the week ending Nov. 15, U.S. mills experienced an 8.3 percent in output compared with the second full week of 2024, AISI reports.

Less positive on the demand side, statistics indicate the export market has not been as active in 2025 compared with its status last year.

At the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) convention in Bangkok last month, that organization’s Ferrous Division statistics adviser Rolf Willeke said U.S. recycled steel exports had shrunk by 16.6 percent in the first half of this year compared with early 2024.

Third week of November reports by Davis Index indicate East Coast exporters may finally be receiving slightly higher bids for their recycled steel.

However, while some bids from Turkey for containerized ferrous scrap later in the third week were higher than those from the beginning of the week, Davis Index sources say the true price increase is marginal.