Scrap steel is required to manufacture many of the higher strength/thinner/lighter grades of steel being used these days in everything from cars to washing machine housings to toasters. It takes more than just iron ore.

This goes with the increase in manufacturing that we are seeing in some areas of the US. A lot of scrap does go overseas.

They just dismantled and old Hwy 14 steel girder bridge across the Wisconsin River after being replaced with a new concrete structure alongside it. The way they took that old bridge apart you would have thought those old I beams and girders were solid gold.

I think the increase in prices for scrap is another very concrete sign that the sky is not necessarily falling economically. Seems to me that scrap prices would be a pretty strong "leading" indicator of future manufacturing and economic activity. It will be some time before those girders come back as toasters but somebody has confidence they will need the steel produced. jmho.

Jim at Dawn