Benelux

Within the Benelux market, things are running ever more smoothly for the time being. COVID is still present but has moved to the background since the different countries are trying their utmost to learn how to live with the virus. More and more companies are welcoming back employees to their offices on a consistent basis and society has picked up where things more or less came to a standstill roughly two years ago. 

All of this is happening against the backdrop of struggles internationally. Energy costs are continuing to rise and remain a worry for both private as well as commercial users. In Belgium, to give you an idea, the price of regular fuel is at an historic high even with the government’s tax reduction taken into account. Another challenge, and also not a new one, remains the availability of skilled labour.   

During most of the recent months, a lot of yards’ attention has been paid to ferrous given the strong numbers in this market; with announcements now being made of potentially lower pricing, even more attention is being given to this side of the business at present. On the non-ferrous side in general, things have been running fairly well, with satisfactory pricing supported by decent-to-good demand. Regarding aluminium, it is said that the automotive sector might be less hungry for units; however, for most other non-ferrous metals, demand appears to be holding up well. Material availability seems to be good too.