Tug-of-war between Italian scrap suppliers and local mills

The Italian scrap market has recorded only slight price decreases compared to late October (October 27), but it remains conditioned by a great deal of uncertainty. The increase in Covid-19 cases and the consequent lockdown measures are worrying domestic steel mills, which now "are insisting on further price decreases," according to one source. However, "a tug-of-war is underway between them and local scrap suppliers," as the latter consider the requests for price reductions to be unjustified, pointing out that all producers seem to enjoy good order books at the moment. Furthermore, a trader underlined, “[local steelmaker] Arvedi is moving forward with the start-up of its new EAF, while in the coming weeks Italian steel mills in general will buy scrap to stock up for January. This leads us to foresee an increase in the consumption of scrap in Italy in the coming weeks.” Other scrap traders added that local restrictive measures have not caused any particular logistical problems so far. Finally, also in light of the current trend of international scrap prices, most sources expect a "stable market in December, with possible upward adjustments."

Average spot prices in the local Italian scrap market are as follows: