Davis’ north, east, and west German ferrous scrap indices jumped €15-30/mt, depending on grade and location, over the past month, as suppliers raised prices to local mills in line with those achieved in export markets, particularly to Turkey.
The Davis north, east and west German ferrous scrap Sorte 3 (E3), equivalent to HMS 1&2 (80:20), climbed €19.4/mt, €17.5/t and €15.0/mt to €251.9/mt, €250.0/mt, and €252.5/mt, respectively, delivered to mill in January.
At the same time, Davis’ north and east German ferrous scrap Sorte S4 (E40), equivalent to shredded, increased by €30/mt over the past month to €260/mt, respectively.
Weak German steel consumption by the manufacturing industry, particularly the automotive sector, has resulted in a marked decline in domestic crude steel production volumes and underlying ferrous scrap consumption over the past year.
While domestic construction activity has extended its recovery to a nine-month high in December (53.8), the country’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) has now remained in contractionary territory for a twelfth consecutive month.
Without strong Turkish demand in November and December, Davis Index believes it is highly unlikely that Germany, and neighbouring markets for that matter, would have witnessed such robust price increases – if any – over the past few months.
Elsewhere, ferrous scrap price hikes in south Germany climbed by a more “subdued” €10-20/mt for the same grades over the same period as tepid Italian demand for material restricted some suppliers from pushing tags up by a similar amount.