According to the information gathered by SteelOrbis, a bearish trend for the month of July has begun to emerge in the Polish scrap market this week.
"Market players are already on vacation and will resume work around mid-August, so I expect a very quiet month," a source explained. Many foundries and steel mills have started summer shutdowns, and scrap demand has decreased compared to the previous month. However, price declines are expected in a range of no more than €10-15/mt. "Mills have already lowered [scrap purchase] prices, and no one dares to propose reductions of more than €15/mt. Available volumes are not abundant, and they are afraid of running out," the same source commented.
In this regard, market players in Poland have commented on Ukraine’s ferrous scrap collectors’ request for the lifting of the country’s de facto ban on scrap exports and for it to be replaced with an annual export quota of 200,000 mt to the EU. Several sources complained that the ban has caused a shortfall of about 10,000 mt of material every month, as well as having increased procurement costs by about 20 percent, according to reports. Despite this, one Polish importer noted, "I think they are still far from restoring scrap exports to Europe."
Meanwhile, local scrap prices in Poland have been reported at almost unchanged levels compared to last month, i.e., at PLN 1,170/mt for W2 scrap (equivalent to HMS) and PLN 1,190/mt for W7 scrap (equivalent to bonus). As for exports, collection prices of HMS I are stable at around €280/mt DAP.
€1 = PLN 4.29
