Scrap prices in the Italian domestic market have kept decreasing since the beginning of September, but the pace of the downtrend has accelerated significantly in the past two weeks. The reason is that “supply is outpacing demand,” as a source at a steel producer commented. This is due to the stagnation of the finished steel markets, both locally and internationally, which is causing production slowdowns in the Italian steel market, and also due to the high availability of scrap volumes. One source explained that this was caused largely by German and French scrap suppliers shipping significant volumes to Italian mills back in August when Italian suppliers were on holiday.
Italian mills are said to be well-stocked even now. One source pointed out that scrap prices in Italy have declined by more than €100/mt since the August highs, while international prices have decreased by just around $70/mt. Most sources find it difficult to make predictions for the coming weeks, but they tend to rule out that big decreases will happen after the significant slump recorded this month. At the same time, they generally doubt that there will be a reversal of the current trend, unless the situation improves significantly in the international market.
Average spot prices in the local Italian scrap market are as follows:
|
Quality |
Average spot price (€/mt) |
Two-week change |
|
Turnings (E5) |
300-310 |
-65 |
|
HMS (E3) |
320-330 |
-80 |
|
Shredded scrap (E40) |
390-400 |
-40 |
|
Busheling (E8) |
440-460 |
-27.5 |
Prices include delivery and exclude VAT.