On 7 October 2026 SteelOrbis reported Assofermet’s regular monthly market note on the Italian scrap, pig iron and ferroalloy books. Siderweb carried the same note the same day. For September, Assofermet recorded a general lift of €5–15 a tonne on medium-to-high ferrous grades. Demand and scrap availability were described as acceptable and a little above expectations, after a weak start back from the summer stop.
The association said some steelmakers had cut purchase prices too far in July and August and then found themselves short of inventory. Those works had to raise offers to restore flows and cover contracts. Turkish scrap buying also supported the move. The same note said higher energy costs, with an impact of up to about €60 a tonne, prompted several plants to cut shifts or halt for a time, which then limited domestic scrap demand.
Assofermet’s October outlook runs from stability to moderate optimism. The association wrote that further price improvements can be expected if production returns to a reasonable pace.
This is a later book than the September imported-scrap note that Kallanish reported on 18 September, when intra-EU contracts into Italy were still flat and Alpine rail works were delaying wagons.
Energy costs, filled yards and delayed deliveries
SteelRadar’s 7 October write-up of the same Assofermet note said many plants reduced shifts, halted or stayed idle for weeks. Weak sales of new steel products added to the drag on scrap intake. As yards filled, some steel producers temporarily suspended deliveries. Traders that had bought ahead of an expected lift could not place that inventory at once. Diesel and energy costs added pressure on those traders.
The energy item is the same constraint that Spanish longs have already shown this autumn: a mill can want scrap and still take less of it when power makes a shift uneconomic. Assofermet’s 2 October Rome conference, reported by EUROMETAL on 6 October, had already put energy costs and CBAM among the items Italian metal companies now treat as a cost of doing business.
A yard selling into Brescia, Udine or other northern electric-arc longs works therefore needs a buyer that is still melting, not only a list price from last week. A trader holding higher-cost tonnes needs a mill that will take deliveries again, or a seaborne outlet.
Turkey, freight and the rest of Europe
On the international book, SteelOrbis said the lift that began in late August accelerated in Turkey, where scrap values rose $25–30 a tonne. The association tied that move to a recovery in demand and, above all, to higher ocean freight, longer transit times, insurance and war-risk premiums as vessel space tightened. Asian markets also rose, but more modestly, on weak demand. In Europe the trend stayed uneven, with most of the lift concentrated at the end of September and large differences between countries and individual buyers.
That Turkish book is the same seaborne outlet described in Turkey’s January–August import tally and in the IREPAS freight discussion. German ferrous had already been waiting on Turkey for an October markup. Italian domestic values can follow that direction without matching a CFR Marmara contract tonne for tonne.
Who buys European scrap still starts with Turkish mills for the surplus that does not stay in the EU. Intra-EU rail and truck into Italian works remain a separate contract, and freight and collection cost sit on both.
Stainless, pig iron and ferroalloys in the same note
Assofermet said demand for stainless scrap from Italian and other European stainless mills stayed weak. Buying was also limited because substantial volumes of imported billets are expected before year-end. Stainless scrap still recorded a modest rebound, which the association attributed to tighter availability rather than a recovery in melt. India remains an export outlet for stainless tonnes that the domestic book will not take. Assofermet expects those exports to keep supporting the stainless scrap market in the final quarter.
Basic pig iron prices at origin were broadly stable in September. Final prices in Europe were hurt by a weaker euro and the energy crisis. Black Sea exports remain blocked from both Ukraine and Russia. SteelOrbis, citing the note, said Brazilian basic pig iron stayed around $440–450 a tonne FOB, while freight from Brazil to Europe rose from $38 to about $50 a tonne. Hematite pig iron demand stayed weak; the association said limited fourth-quarter visibility and uncertainty around CBAM keep buyers cautious on inventory. Ductile iron was stable at origin, with foundry demand still structurally weak.
The Italian ferroalloy book split. Manganese and silicon alloys stayed weak because steel mills had slowed production. Ferrochrome and noble alloys were more active and slightly firmer. Assofermet said European producers reported Chinese trade flows shifting toward Angola in an attempt to work around EU antidumping duties, and that the European Commission had launched an interim review.
Who it affects among yards, traders, mills and processors
Northern Italian electric-arc longs mills that restocked in September have paid more for medium and high grades, then cut shifts when energy reached about €60 a tonne. A mill that has suspended deliveries will not clear a trader’s yard just because the association’s monthly range moved up.
Domestic Italian processors and merchants face mills that will take a parcel when they are melting and refuse it when the furnace is down. That is a scheduling problem as much as a price problem. Export-oriented sellers still have the Turkish and, for stainless, Indian books, but both now carry higher freight and longer transit.
Yards in Austria, Slovenia, southern Germany and other intra-EU origins that sell HMS scrap or shredded scrap into Italy should treat the September lift as a restocking move, not as proof that every Italian works is taking full intake through October. Confirm the delivery week and whether the melt is running.
Stainless processors should name 18-8 solids the way the site already does, as Sabot or the equivalent mill language, and say whether the lot is aimed at an Italian melt or at an Indian export container. Do not invent a nickel or molybdenum figure you have not measured.
How to name an Italian ferrous or stainless lot
Write the grade the melt already uses. Italian works often write E40 for fragmentiser steel, the same idea as shredded or ISRI 211 on export, and E3 or E1 for heavier melting or demolition steel. If the buyer works in ISRI language, write HMS 1&2 80/20 or shredded 211 and say so. For stainless, write 18-8 solids or Sabot. Do not invent a copper cap, a thickness or an analysis you have not measured.
State tonnes, packing, city or load point, and whether the move is truck, rail or a container. If a mill has asked you to hold deliveries, say so on the offer. Delivered northern Italy, ex-works Alpine yard and CFR Marmara are different contracts.
Verified companies can place the parcel on live lots or post a wanted enquiry. Request access if you sell into Italian works or buy for a longs or stainless programme.