Local Italian scrap market still sluggish, prices stable

The situation in the local Italian scrap market has not changed this week, remaining rather sluggish as steel mills request less material and traders struggle to find new scrap.

Local scrap prices have remained unchanged in the last week of March as most mills confirmed previous purchase prices. However, producers, especially in the longs segment, are concerned about the shortage of new orders and sales of finished products, and are therefore willing to decrease scrap purchase prices. In addition, steel mills are requesting less and less material. In fact, according to sources, “April will be a short month, between the Easter, Independence Day and Labour Day holidays’, with some steel mills planning to stop or slow down production during the holidays.

Traders, however, do not seem to be worried by this situation as, according to them, there is no room for a drop in scrap prices given the shortage of material. “Even re-rollers are working very little at the moment. There is little waste and therefore little new scrap coming in,” as one source commented. Market participants are also waiting to see what will happen in foreign markets and how the positive signals coming in particular from the deep sea cargoes recently purchased in Turkey will affect the Italian scrap market. The expectation is for a stable price trend in April.

Prices include delivery and exclude VAT.

The situation is also stable in the Spanish scrap market, both in terms of local and import prices. Market participants do not expect any changes until after the Easter holidays, when steel mills will announce their new purchase prices.

Prices include delivery and exclude VAT.