Local Italian scrap market essentially stable

Local scrap prices in Italy have remained virtually unchanged over the past week, except for some declines on turnings and HMS. Despite uncertainties, market participants expect prices to remain stable in February.

This week, the local Italian scrap market was essentially unchanged, however, some grades, turnings and demolitions in particular, experienced a small downward adjustment of about €5/mt. According to one source this is a move by steel mills "to cool the market and avoid further increases [in scrap prices]", for others the reason behind this drop is that the finished steel market hasn’t fully recovered yet. In fact, it appears that some mills have suspended deliveries due to full stock yards and, as a result, have slowed down their purchase activity. Other market participants, however, report a lively trading activity.

Despite these declines, market players are optimistic about February. One source said, "We closed our new monthly deals virtually unchanged [compared to January]," and added that a turnaround is unlikely given the increases in HRC prices in Europe and in rebar prices globally. According to another trader, mills are expected to return more actively to buying not because the demand for finished steel has improved but because of the scarcity of scrap on the market, and therefore "prices should at least remain stable".

However, we will need to wait and see how finished steel sales will go in the coming weeks to get a clearer idea about the trend of the scrap market.

Prices include delivery and exclude VAT.