The monthly Davis Indexes for German ferrous scrap declined by an average of €23/mt ($25/mt) over the past month, depending on grade and location, following the conclusion of mill-yard negotiations in April.
Most German steel mills significantly reduced their ferrous scrap order volumes this month, with many producers scaling back operations to match falling domestic steel consumption, particularly from the automotive industry.
While some mills had planned production outages during the week leading up to Easter, others extended theirs an additional week because of decimated steel demand, resulting in an approximate capacity utilization rate of 40-60pc nationwide.
However, reduced export demand—the result of temporary mill closures, particularly in Belgium, Italy, and Luxembourg—created relatively healthy ferrous scrap supply for domestic steel producers.
German ferrous scrap buyers who had initially tabled bids as much as €40/mt below April purchases revised their tenders because major seaborne benchmarks, particularly to Turkey, sharply increased over the past two weeks.
In Germany’s north, south, and west, Sorte 1 (E1) decreased by €27-37/mt to €182-198/mt, while Sorte 3 (E3) dropped by €25-34/mt to €190-215/mt, and Sorte 4 (E40) declined by €23-37/mt to €196-222/mt.
In the north, south, and west, the indexes for Sorte 2 (E2) and Sorte 8 (E8) declined by €23-32/mt and by €23-36/mt over the past month to €207-213/mt and €211-214/mt, respectively, delivered to mill.