Where ferrous scrap prices all but exploded at the start of 2021, the current year has got off to a much less spectacular start in Germany. There is little movement on the market in the wake of the production and mill shutdowns of recent weeks. With demand from steel mills modest and some-what lower scrap arisings, the prices agreed in contracts between merchants and steel makers trended sideways to slightly lower in January. Insiders' forecasts were still very vague.
In November, there were more than a few merchants who predicted another step up for steel scrap prices at the start of the new year. However, there were already signs in December that their expectations would go unfulfilled. High energy costs and lower than expected call-offs from the steel processing industry had put the dampers on demand from steel mills for weeks now. Scrap merchants also had to deal with the impacts of Turkey's worsening economic crisis and the fall of the Lira which had the export price under substantial pressure into the early weeks of January.
At the start of the year, German steel manufacturers had therefore attempted to lower scrap prices. and were rewarded for their stalling when a revival in demand from Turkey stabilised the export prices. European scrap consumers were left with no choice but to follow suit.