German distributors’ stocks fall over January-September

By the end of September, inventories at Germany’s stockholding distributors were 12% lower than they were one year earlier, Kallanish learns from the national distributors’ federation BDS.

The volume on 30 September was 2.23 million tonnes, virtually equal to that of 31 December 2018, when inventories are typically kept low for year-end. In the first nine months of 2019, distributors sold 8.36 million tonnes of products, -3.7% less than in the corresponding period in 2018. 

September itself with 940,000 tonnes was actually slightly better than September 2018, but BDS’ head of research, Jörg Feger, is refraining from drawing any conclusions based on trend. In the course of the year, sales dropped mainly for flat products and bars, merchant bar as well as special bar qualities, while sales for rebar maintained a positive curve. Prices in August and September continued to fall for most products, Feger notes.

In recent months, buyers have also continued to tell Kallanish that they remain reserved, so that a further year-on-year fall in volumes is likely during the remaining months of the year.