The local Polish scrap market has remained almost silent this week. Many players were slowly returning after the Corpus Domini holiday on June 19, but the summer holidays are approaching and international commercial and military tensions are making people extremely cautious.
The finished steel market is also not helping scrap prices to recover, as long steel prices have remained unchanged after the previous drop and finished steel demand is being easily covered by good supply. The scenario in Poland, in other words, is now very similar to that in other European countries, with low scrap demand balanced by average finished steel sales.
According to one source, “A number of local producers are even reducing the possibility of incoming flows to their yards because they have decent levels of scrap, and they don’t need it like they did in the past,”, he said, adding, “I feel - but this is just my feeling - that scrap prices in Poland will decline by €5-10/mt in July.” He went on to say that, however, mills know that doing this will mean a rise in scrap purchase prices again in September.
On the export side, market players have expressed their concerns about the international tensions. “Somehow, I feel prices are under pressure now, and we expect nothing good. Although many believe in price rises, I don’t see any firm reason for it,” a Poland-based exporter commented. “I would say dark days are ahead of us”, he concluded.
According to SteelOrbis’ information, HMS I reference scrap collection prices to export yards in Poland have remained unchanged in a range of €250-270/mt DAP.