During November, domestic scrap prices in Italy generally increased by €10-15/mt ($11-17/mt) despite some slight decreases at the beginning of the month. In late November, several domestic steel mills increased their purchase prices further in order to bring in more scrap in December and thus arrive at the period of production stoppages with appropriate levels of scrap supplies. The month of November was also characterized by a reduction in steel production but which was smaller than expected, not because of a real improvement in finished product demand but due to the need to exploit electricity supply contracts as much as possible.
In the early days of December - a month which has fewer working days - the trend seen in the second half of November has continued, and those who urgently need scrap have made bookings at prices showing increases of €5/mt ($6/mt), €10/mt ($11/mt) or €15/mt ($17/mt) depending on their needs. Currently, in the Italian scrap market local prices are at the following levels:
Quality |
Average price (€/mt) |
Turnings (E5) |
135-145 ($149-160/mt) |
HMS (E3) |
165-175 ($182-193/mt) |
Shredded scrap (E40) |
185-195 ($204-215/mt) |
Busheling (E8) |
180-190 ($198-209/mt) |
Prices include delivery and exclude VAT.
Sources expect that in the month of December production stoppages will be four weeks long on average, but during this time steel mills will continue to receive scrap nonetheless. As for January, the scrap market situation will depend essentially on finished product demand.
€1 = $1.10