Lack of construction demand drags on rebar prices in Poland

Polish steel rebar prices inched lower in the seven days to Friday October 7 on weak demand, with the downtrend expected to persist in the weeks ahead, market sources have told Fastmarkets.
Rebar buyers in the country continued to shun large-volume purchases during the assessment period due to weak demand from the construction sector and a lack of clear outlook for the fourth quarter of 2022.

The continued weak performance of the construction industry, the key consumer of rebar, was the main factor depressing the market.

“Demand [for rebar] is very poor. There are no new projects [in construction] – there are just small orders for current needs,” a distributor in Poland told Fastmarkets.

Official rebar offers from three local producers were still being reported at 4,100-4,200 zloty ($832-852) per tonne delivered (around 4,070-4,150 per tonne exw) during the assessment week.

But buyers’ price ideas were closer to 4,050-4,070 zloty per tonne exw.

Rare transactions were reported at 4,070-4,100 zloty per tonne exw during the week.

As a result, Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Poland, was 4,070-4,100 zloty per tonne on Friday, down by 30-50 zloty per tonne from 4,100-4,150 per tonne on September 30.

The market expectations for the last quarter of the year were quite gloomy, because construction demand, the main driver for rebar consumption, was not expected to recover any time soon.

“Until interest rates come down, there will be a very weak market,” a Polish distributor said. “We expect [rebar] prices to continue to fall, and by the end of the month to be around 4,000 zloty per tonne cpt.”

Published by: Julia Bolotova