Italian scrap contracts are expected to gain €20/tonne ($22.1/t) or more in November from those in October as some transaction prices for high quality grades have already soared last week. This is due to the high prices paid by Turkish buyers for imported HMS 80:20 from Northern Europe and soaring prices of some long products.

As reported, Turkish scrap prices have become the benchmark for European scrap. Last week Turkish imported HMS 80:20/t from Northern European countries gained almost $14/t on October to $247.50/t cif. This has given the Italian, French and German markets a boost in negotiations for new contracts, sources tell Kallanish.

This week will be decisive in settling prices for the first half of November. However, last week some mills already started paying increased prices while others have put off purchases, decided to work with their stocks and are playing a pricing wait-and-see game, Kallanish notes.

Last week some high grades of new arisings E8 have garnered as much as €225/t delivered while the normal slightly lower grade E8 went for €210/t delivered on average. This is already showing improvement compared to the average level of €200/t delivered paid in October.

Demolition quality E1 has reached a level of €210/t delivered in some contracts while E3 is between €190-200/t delivered. Some contracts for shredded grade E40 have been closed at €220-225/t but lower qualities of E40 were also priced at €215/t delivered, sources suggest.