Base prices for rebar in Germany and Austria remain unlikely to inch back up to the mark of €400/tonne ($469), which they surpassed for a period until June.
“I actually doubt that too many people bought for more than €400,” one central German buyer says. ”Mills had targeted €420 but did not get it.” Current base prices are at around €380/t, he says, “but it [rebar prices] remains under pressure”.
Further south in Bavaria and Austria, people are seeing paid prices at even lower, suggesting €360/t as a mark for recent deals. For rebar benders, prices would have to be even lower to break even in the competition for construction contracts. “€350 would be realistic” to do business downstream without making losses, one cut-and-bend manager tells Kallanish.
Influence from Italy seems to limited, as Italian offers to southern Germany are at only €10/t lower than local quotes, he says. This is quite remarkable given that domestic base prices in Italy are some €100/t lower. “The Italians sell to Germany only if they have to; they get better prices in other countries than Germany,” he finds.
He also mentions a recent push by German mills to bring prices back up by €20-30, but believes price stabilisation is the best they can hope for, with no upswing likely before summer.
Other buyers however have not confirmed the hike attempts. An Austrian buyer does however confirm the Italian prices. “The Italians charge us, in fact, €100 more than they do domestically, and I had a hard time negotiating a discount of €20 in a recent deal,” he says.
Christian Koehl Germany
