January has passed and in the local scrap market in Poland changes are yet to come. In these first weeks of 2025, both finished steel and scrap demand were on the low side. Despite this, scrap purchase prices seemed to have increased a little after the initial drop that came after the Christmas holidays when mills were fully restocked.
On January 20, local steelmaker Huta Częstochowa restarted production, aiming to reach an output of 10,000 mt in January and 20,000 mt in February, as SteelOrbis previously reported. Most market players were surprised by this event, because apparently finished steel demand in the local market is not ready to welcome this increase in flat steel production. Long products, on the other hand, are quite in demand as the construction season will soon begin again. According to one source, in fact, Poland started to import rebar from Turkey last week.
Since the cold winter conditions are undermining scrap availability, traders in the local market are unwilling to decrease their scrap sales prices - instead, they are planning to increase them by €5-10/mt for February orders. On the other hand, mills are struggling to sell their finished products, meaning that they are unwilling to buy scrap at higher levels in order not to flatten their margins out further. Nonetheless, they need scrap to meet their production rates, and so sources are optimistic that this increase will happen.
According to sources, scrap sales prices in the local market are now in the range of €289-294/mt for HMS I and €272-273/mt for HMS II. Meanwhile, bonus grades are available in the range of €299-301/mt, all on DAP conditions.
Speaking of exports, HMS I scrap prices to export yards have increased by €5/mt week on week to €285-290/mt delivered to Baltic ports due to a lack of material in the local Polish market, which is traditionally a net exporter of scrap.