European rebar producers continued their attempts to raise prices during the week to Wednesday January 28 amid higher scrap and electricity costs and uncertainty in the import sector caused by the introduction of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
But customers resisted the higher offers amid slow construction activity and ample stocks.
In Northern Europe, offers varied within €620-640 ($742-766) per tonne delivered. Levels of €620-630 per tonne delivered were heard in Germany, while the higher end referred to Belgium and the Netherlands.
Estimates of workable levels mostly varied within €610-620 per tonne delivered, but some sources indicated €590-600 per tonne delivered as a workable level in Germany, which was considered somewhat undervalued amid increasing feedstock costs.
Trading was muted because of slow construction activity which has been hampered by the seasonal slowdown and harsher-than-normal winter conditions, according to sources.
Sufficient inventories of domestic and import material built in the fourth quarter of 2025 added to tepid buying.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, delivered Northern Europe was unchanged week on week at €610-620 per tonne on Wednesday.
“We should wait until real demand comes back to see price increases. This should be in the second half of February,” one producer told Fastmarkets.
Mills in Italy also increased rebar asking prices, with new offers at €600-620 per tonne ex-works, but these also faced resistance from buyers.
“Scrap prices have increased by around €7-8 per tonne over the course of the month while energy costs have remained high. In addition, CBAM is creating concern in the market and is leading many market participants to believe that the increase we are already seeing in flat products can now realistically be transferred to long products as well, including rebar and reinforcing steel,” an Italian cut and bend mill said.
“We will see how the situation develops over the course of the week, but steel mills are currently very firm on the price levels communicated,” the source said. “But they are not able to achieve everything they are asking for mainly due to the low level of sales.”
“I think this is all speculation since it’s been raining for days and everything seems to be stopping,” another cut and bend producer told Fastmarkets.
Tradable levels were reported within €560-590 per tonne ex-works, which was reflected in the corresponding Fastmarkets assessment.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, exw Italy was €560-590 per tonne ex-works on Wednesday, narrowing downward by €10 from €560-600 per tonne on January 21.
Spain was one of the few markets where suppliers managed to achieve higher levels, supported by good demand and favorable market sentiment amid the strong performance of the economy in 2025 and expected gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 2.1-2.4% in 2026.
Some bookings were said to have come through at €665 per tonne delivered, the level suppliers had been trying to achieve for several weeks.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, delivered Spain was €665 per tonne on Wednesday, up by €15-20 from €645-650 per tonne on January 21.
