German road toll weighs on rebar players
Germany is seeing truck toll rates increase from 1 December, which is worrying downstream players in the rebar market, which typically has short-haul delivery routes.
According to a manager at a cut-and-bend group, the higher rates will result in the doubling of road fees, which could mean at least €20 ($22) extra for a conventional truck load. The increase is being introduced as a compensation for CO2 emissions, but does not take into account the environmental performance of different vehicle models, he remarks, critically.
“New models are usually exempt when such fees become stricter, but not this time,” he says.
This comes “at the worst time,” as the rebar business is already suspended in a flat-out construction market, he tells Kallanish. “Builders keep holding back orders from benders. They make inquiries, but then prefer to wait for more price discounts, and this just drags on. But we benders cannot go lower; intake prices and sales prices are already totally out of proportion.”
A buyer at a hardware store confirms the mismatch of prices upstream and downstream. Mills last month lifted prices, “but nobody will pay them because our sales prices would not bring the cash back,” he notes. He confirms one purchase he made to fill a short-notice order, at the elevated base price of €350/tonne ($384), translating to €615/t delivered. But he predicts that once the current order backlog is worked down by mills, they might have to revert to the previous base price level of €320, maybe lower, rather than fetching the €370 they are seeking.
“Of course, mills are trying to keep up their prices because they have rising costs,” he states with a view on the high power prices in Germany. However, “they were moaning to us about energy costs even in spring last year when they sold for more than €1,000/t, and thus have since lost their credibility,” he adds.
From a recent query to Italy, he has learned that Italian mills are not taking orders from Germany because it pays better for them to sell elsewhere. “Germany is considered the weakest market for rebar mills,” he notes.
Christian Koehl Germany
Italy’s Arvedi AST to sell Turkish stainless steel service center to Saritas
Italian steelmaker Arvedi, planning to sell its stainless steel service center AST Turkey to Saritas Steel, has applied to Turkey’s competition authority, whose approval would be needed for the completion of any takeover, according to the authority.
German industrial engineering and steel production conglomerate Thyssenkrupp sold Italian Acciai Speciali Terni (AST), including its subsidiaries in Turkey, Germany and Italy to one of Italy’s largest steel producers Arvedi Group in January 2022.
AST Turkey has a stainless steel processing capacity of more than 30,000 mt/year, in Kocaeli, near Istanbul.
One of Turkey’s largest stainless steel service centers, Saritas Steel, which is aiming to purchase Arvedi’s subsidiary, AST Turkey, also located in the same region.
Saritas, expected to increase its stainless steel processing capacity notably with the purchase, would not comment.
Platts last assessed 304 grade 2 mm 2B stainless CRC at $2,060/mt CFR East Asian ports on Nov. 24, down 1.9% week on week, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data.
Author: Cenk Can
