Recycled steel sellers get another winter bump

Global metals news and pricing service Davis Index is reporting that buyers in the United States recycled steel market have signaled they will pay $20 to $30 per ton for more some grades of the secondary commodity this month compared with January.

David lists prime grades, ferrous shred and machine shop turnings all as in tight supply in the U.S., prompting sellers to ask for as much as $30 per ton in early February compared with January’s price.

January weather in the several different parts of the U.S. featured snow and ice that impeded the collection and transportation of scrap in some regions and hampered demolition and construction activity in others.

Now, mill buyers in regions including Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh are finding they will need to bid higher for the scrap that has been collected, with Davis Index writing that “variations in [price] increases across cut grades are more pronounced” in some regions compared with others.

The news service says some mill buyers have been holding out to try to keep their monthly increases in the $20 range rather than the $30 range. Shippers, however, have been responding quickly to the higher bids, with Davis Index reporting East Coast shippers in some export regions such as Philadelphia have looked inland to take advantage of the price increases.

As reported by London-based Kallanish Commodities, recycled-content steelmakers such as Nucor Corp. seem prepared to pass along the higher scrap costs. That publication reports Nucor raised the price of its hot-rolled coil steel by $5 per ton for four consecutive weeks in January and February.

Owners of metal recycling facilities in the U.S. have had a winter featuring operational  headaches in the form of disruptive weather.

However, prices on the sell side as measured by Davis Index and MSA Inc.’s Raw Material Data Aggregation Service (RMDAS) rose by $20 per ton in December 2025 and January 2026 and are poised to rise again this month.