LME steel billet prices

I see that the current LME steel billet price is around $300/metric tonne. See http://www.lme.com/steel/latest_price.asp

Can this billet price for steel be correct? Other top sources such as Metal Bulletin Research show current ferrous scrap prices to be over $400 per metric tonne. Why pay $400/t for steel scrap if you can buy billet for $300 a tonne?

A few other independent sources including our own at http://www.steelonthenet.com/pricing_history.php also show recent billet prices at well over $500 / metric tonne.

Is there some disparity here, or maybe some other important factor such as liquidity impacting the LME billet price? All comments welcomed ...

blogger@steelonthenet.com

Steel scrap prices

Is anyone watching the price of steel scrap? The Rotterdam f.o.b. export price of HMS1 heavy steel scrap was under US $200 / metric tonne in March 2009. Today, barely six months later, the price is around US $325 per tonne. You can track the latest scrap prices at http://www.steelonthenet.com/commodity_prices.html.

blogger@steelonthenet.com