On May 9, Assofermet, the association representing Italian distributors of scrap, raw materials and steel products, pubished its monthly note on raw materials for the steel industry. According to the association, April was not brilliant in Italy in terms of performance, but was characterized instead by a prevailing stagnation.
Steel mills maintained a reduced pace of production due to their small number of orders, and the low availability of scrap continued both at authorized recycling plants and in terms of nationwide collection.
A modest change was recorded in the last week of April and the first few days of May, when there was an increase of €10-20/mt. This hike, however, was caused more by lower commercial supply than by higher demand from steel mills. According to the association, this could be a good signal for the performance of the scrap market in May, even if steel mills’ order books remain unchanged.
Looking at the international scenario, April again was stable from the second half of April onwards, with some variations at the beginning of the month. Tensions in the Middle East led Turkey to halt its trade with Israel, exacerbating the country’s already critical situation in terms of export and sales of finished goods.
As for the European markets, the situation remained generally stable with some specific price and demand variations. In Asia, on the other hand, there was a positive trend in scrap imports, particularly from India, which resumed imports in bulk rather than in containers at prices in line with or just above those recorded in the Turkish market. A slight slowdown was recorded in the first days of May.
In the stainless scrap segment, consumption was in line with forecasts in Italy, but it declined in Europe due to some production stoppages. Assofermet commented, "The availability of material remains low, mainly due to reduced production and expectations of increases. Quotations, therefore, seem to go up only because of the nickel trend and the reduced scrap availability."
The non-European market still shows little interest, but this time quotations were more similar to European prices.
The pig iron market remained stable In April, with unchanged quotations and few sales, while offers from the Black Sea were still limited. The same applies to demand in Turkey and Italy, "where the bids from potential buyers continue to be lower than the offers from producers and traders," the association reported. Pig iron offers to India increased, averaging at $440-450/mt CFR. In the US market, on the other hand, Brazilian producers failed to achieve their desired increases and so the price levels remained at $440-445/mt FOB.