Waking up from the summer slumber.

Although the calendar was still turned to the August page, mill buying activity seemed to increase in anticipation of an end to the summer vacation season.

Ferrous scrap buyers showed enough interest in early August to move pricing up an average of about $10 per ton, with variations depending on the grade and the region.

According to figures compiled by the Raw Material Data Aggregation Service (RMDAS) operated by Management Science Associates' (MSA), Pittsburgh, in both northern regions mill buyers paid $16-per-ton more for prompt industrial composite grades. The smallest swing occurred for No. 1 heavy melting steel (HMS) in the North Midwest region, which increased in price just $3 per ton.

In August, per-ton prices paid by U.S. steel mills ranged from $242 to $313 per ton. No. 2 shredded scrap fetched average pricing in a narrow range from $271 to $279 per ton, with mills in the South paying at the lower end of that scale.

Mills in the South paid the least, on average, for all three of the grades for which MSA releases data.

Scrap recyclers sense a bit more interest on the mill buying side as the end of summer nears. "The rise in prices seems demand-related to me," says one recycler in the Midwest. He also ventured that September pricing will see yet more increases, "especially in the prime grades."

In his particular part of the country, the Midwest recycler says flow of scrap also strengthened in August compared to July. "July was a bit slow, but things have picked back up, both with unprepared and industrial material," he comments.

Actual melting at domestic steel mills started August on a restrained note, according to figures from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). The 2,043,000 net tons of steel produced Aug. 5-11 was the least made since early June.

But mill buyers remain keenly aware that if they don't keep their inventories in place, overseas buyers could make them regret last-minute buying.

On a global basis, the world's steelmakers continue to churn out more steel than ever before. The 67 countries that report to the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) produced 761.8 million metric tons of steel in the first seven months of 2007--up 7.9 percent over the 2006 rate of production.

China remains the world's leader in volume production (producing at a rate of approximately 478 million metric tons for the year) and among the leaders in percentage increase. Notable in its decline is India, where steelmakers have reportedly made 6.1 percent less steel than through July of 2006.

(Additional news about ferrous scrap is available online at www.RecyclingToday.com.)