The local Italian scrap market has remained largely silent this week, with only a few mills reducing their scrap purchase prices by €5/mt. The price cuts, however, only involved small volumes, and they did not affect the overall market levels, which have remained unchanged for over a month.
Most market participants have been absent from the market this week, as the beginning of August coincides with summer holidays in Italy, which often last the whole month. Some local mills, however, have eased off in relation to production stoppages, reducing them to only one week in the month. As a consequence, scrap deliveries will continue with almost no disruption, which makes some scrap traders hope for a better market in September.
On the producers’ side, however, sources claim to have extremely full scrap warehouses, and this will allow them to lower their scrap purchase prices once they resume production after the holidays. “Scrap prices in Italy will only be determined by producers’ resumptions in September,” a source said, because the market fundamentals remain unchanged.
Having said that, local Italian scrap prices for this week are reported as stable week on week in the following table:
| Quality | Average spot price (€/mt) | Average spot price (€/mt) | Average spot price (€/mt) |
| Period | Aug 07 | Aug 01 | July 03 |
| Turnings (E5) | 280-305 | 280-305 | 285-300 |
| HMS (E1/E3) | 290-300 | 290-300 | 290-300 |
| Shredded (E40) | 330-345 | 330-345 | 330-350 |
| Busheling (E8) | 325-340 | 325-340 | 325-345 |
Prices include delivery and exclude VAT.
The situation in the local Spanish scrap market is similar to the Italian market, with most market players on holiday, few volumes traded and many discussions about operational issues such as delivery terms, payments, etc. On the import side, scrap prices in the north of Spain have been reported at €285/mt DAP for E1 scrap, €300-305/mt DAP for E3 scrap and €315/mt DAP for E40 scrap.