Scrap prices have declined in the Italian domestic market compared to mid-December. The largest decreases were sought by local rebar producers, though, according to a local scrap supplier, "None of them was able to buy significant volumes at such low prices." These declines were due to lower demand and the surge of energy prices, although “Italian mills in early January announced price increases for their finished steel products and these seem to have been accepted by their clients,” the supplier added. Meanwhile, scrap prices have recorded slight increases abroad, including in import prices in Turkey. For these reasons, the same source said he believes that the downtrend has come to an end. "Now we'll probably have stable prices until the end of the month, while I am expecting increases in February, as mills seem to have a lot of work on their hands,” he noted
Another source underlined that a few mills have not announced their purchase prices yet after coming back from the holidays as they will restart production activities only this week. He added, "It is true that energy prices are giving producers big problems, as is the pandemic, but there is not much scrap around, also due to the absence of people due to Covid infections. I also expect that the energy issue will be resolved thanks to an intervention by the government. In the absence of other exceptional events, steel mills should maintain their production stable or even increase it in the coming months, and so scrap prices should remain firm."