German ex-warehouse scrap prices move up in December

Market players in the local German scrap market have reported a decent level of demand from mills in December, although scrap availability and logistics issues remain very significant.

Winter weather conditions, the shortage of wagons and means of transport on land and the increasing costs for scrap transport from Germany to neighboring countries are continuing to weigh on scrap deliveries causing significant delays, and this is also affecting scrap prices, causing them to increase.

One steel producer in particular needed to secure at least 180,000-200,000 mt of scrap in December for the planned restart of its new electric arc furnace in January, thus buying scrap at a price at least €15/mt higher.

In addition, as SteelOrbis mentioned a few weeks ago, lower industrial production has resulted in reduced scrap generation and scrap traders have been less willing to sell, which is why consumers needing to secure volumes have had to increase their scrap purchase prices.

For these reasons, the increases observed by BDSV in the first 20 days of December range from €4.0-14.2/mt. On year-on-year basis, scrap prices fell by between €18.6/mt and €44.8/mt.

The prices are provided by Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Stahlrecycling-und Entsorgungsunternehmen e.V. and are average prices for domestic transactions across Germany in the first 20 days of the given month.

Specifications:

E1 - Old steel scrap: thickness ≥ 4 mm, maximum dimensions 1.5 m x 0.5 m x 0.5 m
E2/E8 - New steel scrap: maximum dimensions 1.5 m x 0.5 m x 0.5 m
E3 - Heavy old steel scrap: thickness ≥ 6 mm, maximum dimensions 1.5 m x 0.5 m x 0.5 m
E40 - Shredded scrap: excluding incinerator steel scrap and collection scrap; density ≥ 1,1 mt/m3, Fe ≥ 92%
E5M - Turnings: excluding iron and automatic steel turnings