OREANDA-NEWS. April 02, 2015. Regional differences are expected during the April buy week in a US scrap market still seeking pricing direction.

Discussions were ongoing March 30 between steel mills and dealers and settlements are expected later in the week.

Pricing opinions remain mixed as tepid demand is meeting tight supply.

"It looks like the market is trying to find a bottom," one dealer said.

"The demand is weak, but so is the supply. The balance seems to be stabilizing the market for now."

Many pricing expectations for April fall between strong sideways and soft sideways, depending on the region.

"As of this morning, we are expecting a sideways move domestically," one Midwest dealer said.

Due to the uncertainty on pricing direction, market sources believe April negotiations could drag on until late in the week.

One source anticipated regional pricing would be "all over the board."

"It is going to be very mill-specific," a Northeast dealer said.

"You are going to see some mills with lower inventory that need to buy and pay a little bit to move some scrap. Others have reduced to no buys.

The Midwest has pockets of muted demand due to electric arc furnaces not running at full capacity and a number of announced blast furnace outages and idlings.

The outages and idlings "won't kill April scrap," one trader said.

"It will likely still be sideways, but it pressures it," he said.

US scrap prices have stabilized since falling around \\$100/lt in February.

Scrap supply is the tightest in the southeastern US, according to market sources, potentially creating upward pricing pressure in the area.

Coastal regions were expected to be under pressure as well on limited demand and uncertain exports, but on March 30 word of a 40,000 mt US cargo sold to Turkey at \\$260/mt CFR HMS 80:20 basis helped limit downside opinion.

The Platts daily shredded scrap assessment was at \\$255-265/lt delivered Midwest mill on March 30.