Like Autumn, 1918

The steel industry's insatiable appetite for scrap was suddenly sated. With scrap piling up in U.S. junk yards, scrap prices on major grades last week fell as much as $1.50 a ton below the ceilings for the first time since April 1941. Scrap dealers had been permitted to charge $1 over the ceilings to even up shipping costs from different parts of the U.S. Last week this "springboard" was disappearing fast.

The steel industry is still operating full blast, chewing up scrap as fast as ever, but buying very little in advance. Steelmen are thinking about steel's future when the U.S. cuts back war production. The break in scrap prices last week was reminiscent of the weakness in scrap prices in the fall of 1918.

Up till Dday, many steel mills kept scrap inventories high, enough to last from 60 to go days. Since then, they have been buying cautiously. Now their inventories are down to some 45 days' supply at the present rate of operation.

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