According to Cesare Pasini, outgoing president of the Italian scrap consumers association Nuovo Campsider, in the month of July Italian domestic scrap prices will fall further, by as much as they declined in June. If this prediction comes true, ferrous scrap prices in Italy will reach their lowest level since late 2010.
Mr. Pasini remarked, "In June the price downtrend was sharper than expected. The average decrease amounted to €20/mt ($25/mt), but the gap between early June and early July quotations has reached €30/mt ($38/mt) because the market is still sliding."
Pasini said that the trend in the international markets is negative as well. Speaking to SteelOrbis, he commented, "In July Italian steel mills will curb their output in order to balance supply with current weak demand and from the end of the month most producers will start idling electric furnaces and blast furnaces for the summer break which this year is likely to be longer than usual". As scrap demand of steelmakers will decrease together with their outputs and given that in this environment steelmakers are not inclined to replenish their scrap yards in view of the late August production restart, Pasini believes that "for these reasons, mills' scrap purchase prices will go down similarly to June, perhaps even more".
€1 = $ 1.25