Although some observers last week were optimistic that the German scrap price may slide little more in October, or not at all, it seems that prices have dipped by a two-digit euro figure.

Reports about busy Turkish buying activity over the past two weeks had spurred optimism. When October began, “… I and others thought that prices this month would drop by up to €20/tonne ($22/t), a week later I thought it might be only €10/t, and meanwhile I’m about to believe that there will be no drop at all,” one merchant had disclosed to Kallanish.

In the meantime however, another merchant reports that steelworks have brought down prices again. Earlier on in the month, the difference to September was indeed €15-20/t, “but meanwhile, the deals have balanced out at €10-15/t,” the merchant says. He believes that now the bottom line has been reached for this year.

German scrap exports in July rose by 3% over July 2015, reaching 700,000 tonnes, giving an upward edge to a first half year that was noticeably weaker than 2015. For the first seven months in total, exports were down -7% in terms of volume, reaching 4.78m tonnes. Due to the price deterioration, the value of exports dropped by as much as -30%, reaching €1.35 billion, according to the German federal statistics office.