DRI prices will remain at current levels until new domestic facilities are brought on-stream and supply material for a merchant market. Supply has been limited. Of that amount, about 500,000 mt was produced and used by Georgetown Steel. Of the 1.1 million mt of imported material, more than 400,000 tons were used in blast furnaces and 50,000 tons in BOFs. Noncontract sales were small and sporadic.
Relief is on the way.
Although new facilities will start up over the coming year, not much of the DRI will be for the merchant market, industry sources and traders say. A viable merchant market probably won't develop before early 1999. While still the mainstay raw material, scrap now is just one of three kinds of metallics that mills consider when determining melt-shop feed. Vendors incorporating ISO 9000 standards are becoming the norm. It has become almost commonplace for buyers and sellers to be as concerned about availability as rates.