German steel scrap merchants were broadly agreed: "The year is over". After another weak trading month in October, which was characterised by persistent low demand from domestic steelworks, but also by softening exports, insiders do not expect the market to pick up in the last two months of the year. At the same time, the availability of old and new scrap was decreasing due to the economic downturn, market participants told EUWID. The competition for scarce input material is putting pressure on margins. However, fixed costs remain high, so that it is becoming increasingly difficult for recycling companies to achieve break-even for the full year. Some said that a break-even result would be "getting off easy".
"At the moment, making money is at best very challenging and in some cases impossible. It's all about limiting the extent of the damage," one trader commented on the market situation. Even more than the scrap prices, which headed lower again in October after the increase in September, it was the weakening volumes that were causing problems for the industry....
