Italian steel trade association Assofermet says that scrap prices have stopped falling both in Italy and internationally as from the second half of October 2019. Both scrap values and demand from Italian steel mills have begun to recover, the association adds in its monthly market report monitored by Kallanish.
Scrap prices had reached such low levels in October that collecting scrap had become extremely complicated for merchants and with transformation costs, it was not possible for them to supply mills. The recovery in scrap volumes and prices has had positive consequences for long products in Italy. The domestic flat products’ market continues to underperform however, Assofermet says.
The recovery in scrap prices has also had a positive impact on pig iron prices which have been increasing accordingly. However, low pig iron availability from Russian producers continues to be a feature of the market. They are preferring to sell to Chinese and US customers rather than Italian buyers because prices and payment terms from those parts of the world are better.
Assofermet says that it has also noticed some stabilisation of ferroalloy prices during October.
