German rebar mills take winter break

With rebar prices gaining critical momentum, mills in Germany are still taking their traditional winter break, some for longer than others.

Riva’s two mills, Hennigsdorf near Berlin and in Brandenburg city, will stop producing for two weeks, basically like any other year, Kallanish hears from a source there.

Another Italian-owned mill, Feralpi’s Elektro-Stahlwerke Riesa (ESW), will disappear from the busy market for as much as four weeks, also a regular winter break length for that mill. According to a statement on its website, the break will be used for maintenance work that involves third parties, which requires a longer period. “The production facilities need their time to cool down, before we can start repairs with other companies,” says managing director Christian Dohr.

A source at Badische Stahlwerke says the policy of each mill dictates whether it takes a short or long break, and that this decision does not necessarily reflect market movement. Badische recently decided to confine itself to a short break and postpone an electric arc furnace modernisation (see separate story).

ESW, furthermore, emphasises that it recently had an environmental audit carried out, for which it received the EMAS label, which it has received annually since 2012. It claims it is one of two German mills to do so on a yearly basis.