Local Italian scrap market remains under upward pressure, but trade slows down

The Italian scrap market has remained rather quiet this week, although some slight upward corrections in average scrap prices by around €5/mt have been reported for some scrap categories.

Supported by the upward pressure in the market, local Italian scrap traders have been seeking increases of €5-10/mt, especially sellers of higher quality scrap such as busheling (E8) and prime busheling (E8C). The desired levels for the latter are reported to have reached €375/mt delivered, but there has been no official confirmation of deals at this level in the domestic scrap market in Italy. As for lower categories, such as old steel scrap (E1), a "certain reluctance" to accept higher levels than those indicated last week by SteelOrbis has been reported.

On the producers’ side, on the other hand, scrap demand is good and partly covered by imports, but several sources have reported that they are doubtful regarding the enthusiasm shown by traders. While recognizing that there have been some increases in scrap purchase prices, they believe that next month's negotiations will be stable at current levels or with maximum increases of about €10/mt.

As for imports, several market sources have reported that two to three Italian producers are waiting for the arrival of scrap cargoes of about 20,000-30,000 mt each by sea, which would be enough to partially cover their needs for the rest of January.

Overall, the price levels recorded in the Italian scrap market have remained almost unchanged with an upward correction on the upper ends of the price ranges reported for E40 and E8.

Prices include delivery and exclude VAT.

Also in Spain, some upward pressure has been reported in the local scrap market, but no further price increases have been confirmed.