The local scrap markets in Germany and Poland have remained mostly stable this week. Steel demand remains on the low side in both countries, also following the overall weakness of the international steel sector.
Nonetheless, even if scrap prices are remaining generally stable both in Germany and in Poland, the levels in the latter are quite high considering the current local market conditions.
While in Germany scrap suppliers are beginning to accept that the stability foreseen for this month might translate into a drop in local scrap prices at the end of September, scrap suppliers in Poland are trying to keep their prices high citing scarce availability of the material and good demand.
On the other hand, though, local Polish mills are expecting to drop their average purchase prices by €5/mt in September, and the leading consumer of scrap in Poland has dropped its longs prices by €15/mt lately. This means that, sooner or later, scrap suppliers will have to accept a decline in scrap prices.
The local scrap market in Germany is still immobile waiting for players to make their decisions after the summer holidays. In the meantime, the market is also being affected by a number of factors such as the halving of scrap consumption by the main producer in Luxembourg and the consequences of a fire that happened at the end of last week at the Hamburg-Waltershof ArcelorMittal plant.
As for prices, collection prices at export yards in Poland have been reported at around €254-259/mt DAP for HMS I equivalent scrap, down by €5/mt compared to the last levels recorded by SteelOrbis.