Despite the background of international political interference, Germany’s stockholders saw good business for most the first half of 2018, with most customer groups reporting high levels of activity, according to distributors’ federation BDS.
In the first five months of the year, sales of rolled products totalled 4.8 million tonnes, and were 1.5% higher than in the corresponding period in 2017. The growth in the tube and pipe sector was even higher, says BDS chief economist Jörg Feger. May however saw a slight year-on-year dip to 948,000t, attributable to a lower number of working days.
At the end of May, the inventory level stood at 2.4mt, 0.5% up y-o-y. This translated to a days-of-sale value of 75 days. According to an unofficial source, June has also seen an increase to 950,000t of products sold, and a slight reduction of stock levels. “… so, there is no overstocking,” Feger tells Kallanish.
Regarding prices, BDS reports that there was an upswing in June, following a period of inconsistency between March and May. In comparison with June 2017, the price premium for long products and pipes is more pronounced than for flat products, the federation says.