With the resumption of activities after the summer break, domestic scrap prices in Italy have indicated a rise of €25-30/mt ($33-40/mt) compared to July levels. The increases have been supported by movements recorded in the global market and by Italian mills' need to replenish their scrap inventories for the restart of production in September.
At the beginning of September, there is a difference between the highest scrap prices paid by Italian mills who started to conclude purchases in August and the purchase prices of other mills that have mostly remained in a wait-and-see position. Meanwhile, Italian mills are working hard to increase their steel sale prices and the first positive results are being reported.
Sources surveyed by SteelOrbis state that the mills with the lower purchase prices will eventually realign their prices with the higher levels. Accordingly, scrap prices in Italy are expected to stabilize at the current highest levels.Italian domestic scrap prices as of September 6 are as follows:
Quality |
Average price (€/mt) Average price ($/mt) |
Turnings (E5) |
250-260 330-343 |
HMS (E3) |
280 370 |
Shredded scrap (E40) |
295-300 389-396 |
Busheling (E8) |
295-300 389-396 |
*Prices are for delivery to customer and exclude VAT
Turning to the European scrap market, European exporters have sold a lot to Turkey and are now struggling to provide sufficient material for such sales, while the scrap flow from Poland to Germany seems to have declined. Furthermore, market sources point out that stock levels are low in most European countries, notably in France, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium.
€1 = $1.32