Distributors of long products (including rebar, beam and merchant bar) in Europe saw their overall volumes sold during Q1 rise some 6% y-o-y, according to the latest report published by EUROMETAL.
The association tracked the EU28 distribution of long products from main multi-product distributors. It added that, while rebar shipments went up 7% y-o-y and beam shipments 13% y-o-y, merchant bar shipments were down by 8% y-o-y.
While sales volume have recovered somewhat, stocks have continued decreasing, in March reaching a level of 58 days of sales for long products in Europe; down from 62 days in March 2015 and the average of 65 days registered during the whole of last year.
Overall for March, stocks in Europe were registered by EUROMETAL at 67 days of sales for beams, 77 days for merchant bars and 32 days for rebar.
In detail, Germany saw its long product volumes sold by distributors moving down 4% y-o-y in Q1, while the UK and the Netherlands registered a recovery of over 10% y-o-y.
Emanuele Norsa, PLATTS
