As anticipated in last week’s report, new July data about scrap prices in the local German market in July showed an average decline by €15.02/mt. E5 scrap marked the sharpest decline, whereas E40 scrap indicated the softest decline. This drop is slightly sharper than SteelOrbis’ previous forecast of a decline by €10-13/mt month on month.
Scrap purchase prices of mills registered different decline spans depending on the market region. More precisely, a mill in the southwest of Germany reduced its scrap purchase prices by €8-11/mt, whereas another major local mill in the western part of the country cut its scrap purchase prices by €15-25/mt and cut the collection volumes by around 45 percent. Two mills in eastern Germany dropped their scrap purchase prices by €10/mt and €15/mt respectively, and, lastly, one mill in southern Germany is reported to have dropped its scrap purchase prices by €10/mt, but this could not be verified by the time of publication.
SteelOrbis believes that this relatively sharp drop is partly due to the holiday period that is keeping several players out of the market, and partly to the aggressively downward move implemented by Luxembourg, where a major producer significantly reduced their scrap purchase prices in July, as previously reported.
The situation, on the other hand, is stable on the export side, as the euro-dollar exchange rate remains unfavorable (EUR 1 = USD 1.17, European Central Bank, July 21) keeping HMS I/II prices unchanged at €250/mt DAP compared to the last few weeks. The sluggish sentiment in the import scrap market in Turkey is also contributing to the export market stillness.
All this said, it is worth noting that the market fundamentals have not changed, and the structural crisis is continuing to weigh on the German and European steel markets in general, so much so that the German Steel Federation (WV Stahl) and other local sector-based entities are exerting pressure on the European Commission for the urgent implementation of the European Steel and Metals Action Plan (ESMAP).
To wrap up, according to the latest data provided by Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Stahlrecycling-und Entsorgungsunternehmen e.V, in the first 20 days of July scrap prices decreased by a range of €11.5-21.3/mt for all grades. On year-on-year basis, scrap prices fell by between €56.0/mt and €72.9/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.
| Scrap grade | Price: July 2025 (€/mt) | Price: June 2025 (€/mt) | Price: July 2024 (€/mt) | M-o-m change (€/mt) | Y-o-y change (€/mt) |
| E1 - Old steel scrap | 238.4 | 253.0 | 302.3 | -14.6 | -63.9 |
| E2/E8 - New steel scrap | 282.2 | 297.3 | 354.1 | -15.1 | -71.9 |
| E3 - Heavy old steel scrap | 280.0 | 292.6 | 345.2 | -12.6 | -65.2 |
| E40 - Shredded scrap | 285.7 | 297.2 | 358.6 | -11.5 | -72.9 |
| E5M - Steel turnings | 230.0 | 251.3 | 286.0 | -21.3 | -56.0 |
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