It's hard times for those countries who really value the 1 and 2 Euro cent coins that some call 'scrap metal.' Several countries have stopped using them, and authorities believe that a lot of the rest is being put away and not used.
For Belgium, which is committed to keeping the copper coins in circulation, that's a problem, which its Central Bank is trying to address with incentive plans to get hoarders to turn their coins in.
For several years, the cost of making the small-denomination coins has been more than they are worth, and several of the European countries, including Netherlands, Finland, Ireland and Italy have stopped producing them, and allow rounding to the nearest 5 cents.
Year after year, surveys of Europeans indicate majority support for rounding and for dropping the penny. Ironically, Belgium has a law permitting rounding (although it is mostly ignored) and one of the highest levels of public support, 70%, for ditching the penny!
But it also has fans; German merchants like the ability to quote prices such as €1.99 that look more attractive, they say, than €2.
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