Broken seasonal patterns create uncertainty alongside quiet market

摘要

There is typically an expectation that increased seasonal activity as well as winter conditions serve to provide a stimulus to scrap prices at the start of a new year. In fact, December to January increases have been witnessed in ten out of the past twelve years, but 2013 has been an exception. Scrap prices for January settled flat as subdued activity in the steel market followed a 5% q/q pullback in output during the fourth quarter. Buyers of both long and flat products remained visibly hesitant to build inventories into the end of the year as fiscal cliff debates worked to limit buyer demand.