Assofermet, the association representing Italian distributors of scrap, raw materials and steel products, has published its monthly note on raw materials for the steel industry. According to its statement, the Italian scrap market in January was characterized by an overall sluggishness, with slight indications of a rebound towards the end of the month.
The persisting scarceness of ferrous scrap availability in the Italian market brought prices up by €5-15/mt. Mills were struggling in resuming production, which continued at a slow pace, and they were reluctant to raise their scrap purchase prices since they were not able to reflect them in their finished steel prices.
In the international scrap market, especially in Turkey, prices showed a gradual decline in January, while rebounding towards the end of the month and in the first days of February to around $350/mt for HMS I/II 80:20.
In other European countries, players took time to come back to business after their winter holidays. Prices showed a gradual downward trend here too when the month started, and then rebounded towards the end of January. France and Germany, on the other hand, showed hardly any changes in prices except for some scrap grades, for which availability was exceptionally low.
The Asian markets showed similar movements, whereas the US is expecting an upward movement in February.
As for the stainless steel scrap markets, prices were slightly down in Italy, due to weak demand from mills, which are operating in a globally weak steel industry. Many producers in the country, in fact, cut their production rates for various reasons, among which were low demand in domestic and foreign markets, as well as high energy prices.
Finally, the outlook for the coming months is uncertain yet pessimistic, in a global scenario in which the features are global demand uncertainty, energy price increases and Trump’s implementation of new tariffs.