Tata Steel Speciality corrects January scrap surcharge

12 Jan 2011

The scrap surcharge is based on published index data, which is compiled during the preceding month. Unfortunately, it appears that a major contributor to the data set has only recently submitted the data for December actual scrap prices, and this has been included in an amended index, which has been recently published.  As a result, the initial data published in December used a proportion of old pricing carried forward from November, in the absence of a more up to date submission.  The corrected index results in a scrap surcharge of £202/t instead of our initial published rate of £197/t.

We have also seen much greater increases from our European competitors, which were reported as being between  €30/t and  €40/t.  Even with the Tata amended scrap surcharge of £202/t, the increase from December is still only  £19/t or  €23/t, still significantly lower than our competitors.

I realise that a surcharge modification should not be taken lightly and may cause some internal issues for you our customers, however we have decided on this occasion that we need to take action to correct a genuine error.  We are clearly working to ensure that a similar error does not arise again.  The scrap market remains highly volatile currently and we are experiencing continued strong increases in the cost of scrap, which has exacerbated this issue.  I am sure that you will be starting to see this feed through to your own scrap sales.

Thank you for your continued support to our business and should you have any further questions then please contact me or your Sales / Account Manager.

Richard Bell, Commercial Manager