Rebar suppliers in Europe returned to the market with higher prices during the week to Wednesday March 11, after withdrawing last week following the effects of the US-Iran conflict.
Higher energy and fuel costs forced suppliers to increase rebar prices for domestic customers, while competition from imports weakened further because of rising freight costs and longer freight times.
Suppliers in Germany increased offers by €10-30 ($11.56-34.70) per tonne over the week, with new offers starting at €650 per tonne delivered for 8-32 mm rebar.
In France, similar material was heard at €630-640 per tonne delivered.
In Austria, workable prices were also estimated at €630 per tonne delivered.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, delivered Northern Europe was at €630-650 per tonne on Wednesday, up €10-20 from €610-640 per tonne on March 4.
Market sources reported that suppliers were offering limited tonnages with short validity periods amid the fast-changing situation in the energy sector.
At the same time, demand remained moderate, with expectations of improving construction activity because of the start of the spring.
In Southern Europe, mills followed a similar policy, with higher price levels heard in Italy and Spain.
Mills in Italy increased offers for 8-40 mm bar to €620-640 per tonne ex-works, but buyers were said to be cautious with “few requests coming in.” Workable prices were estimated at €600-620 per tonne delivered, but again with very short validity.
“Customers are disoriented. They remember what happened at the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with the fast price uptrend and costs out of control, but at the same time they’re afraid that a rapid end to the US-Iran conflict will bring a new decrease. Someone is buying, [while] some others are in wait-and-see mode, [but] no one is optimistic regarding the near future,” an Italian trading source said.
“I can understand customer caution, but believe me, the fear among producers in selling at prices that are not sustainable with higher costs is very high. Consider also the psychological aspect for old-economy producers: we have always had scrap prices and availability as our benchmark, so we have difficulty understanding the hyper-speculative attitude of energy suppliers,” an Italian producer said on Wednesday.
“Even as I write, we are stopping production three to four hours a day to avoid peak energy costs and this is obviously lowering our stocks, so we are not under pressure to sell volumes. We need to get ahead of the cost curve as quickly as possible,” he added.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, ex-works Italy rose to €600-640 per tonne on Wednesday, up €20-50 from €550-620 per tonne on March 4.
Spanish suppliers also raised offers, with new levels at €675-690 per tonne delivered.
Sources noted that unlike in other parts of Europe, demand for rebar in Spain has been strong because of healthy economic performance and more favorable weather conditions.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, delivered Spain was €675-690 per tonne on Wednesday, up €10 from €665-680 per tonne on March 4.
