In the past month, in the local Italian scrap market quotations have decreased to €290/mt ($395/mt) for hot melting scrap (HMS) scrap. According to the market analysis of Italian scrap consumers association Nuovo Campsider, during the month of October average quotations of premium qualities of scrap in Italy decreased sharply, while quotations of lower grades dipped slightly. As for the month of November, the downtrend is expected to continue.
Indeed, in the first part of the current year busheling prices in Italy increased steadily due to the recovery of the local steel market, while after the summer holidays busheling prices lost ground much faster than HMS prices. According to SteelOrbis sources, the reason behind the current two-speed market is that high quality steel producers are increasing their demand for low grade scrap supplies, as they seek to lower their production costs. Accordingly, Italian demand for HMS scrap is less depressed than it would be otherwise.
In Italy, current HMS scrap quotations are at €290-295/mt ($395-402/mt), shredded scrap is at around €320/mt ($436/mt), and busheling scrap costs €335-340/mt ($457-464/mt) (prices are delivered to customer, excluding VAT). There are no positive signs for the last two months of the year as, apart from poor Italian steel demand, financial pressure is causing steelmaking companies to reduce their scrap stocks to a minimum as the end of the year approaches.