As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was €650-680 ($736-770) per tonne on Wednesday, stable week on week.
In Germany, prices were reported at €670-680 per tonne delivered while, in the Netherlands and other parts of Northern Europe, lower prices of €650-670 per tonne were reported.
Further production cuts and improved sentiment in the North contributed to stability in prices. More than half of the rebar steelmaking capacities in Northern Europe have been idled to rebalance supply-demand dynamics.
“Availability has dropped considerably,” a producer source told Fastmarkets. “European steel mills have reduced production to contain costs driven by previously high raw material prices and weak demand. In addition, non-EU Eastern European countries have gone absent from the market due to geopolitical tensions, while the lack of stock from British Steel has further contributed to low availability across Europe. Increased safeguard regulations also have reduced demand volume and appetite.”
Scrap costs have dropped since mid-April due to slow consumption of finished steel in the domestic rebar market, combined with the continuing uncertainty around US tariff rates.
As a result, customers remained in wait-and-see mode.
Fastmarkets’ calculation of its daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was $318.14 per tonne per tonne on Wednesday, down week on week from $334.54 per tonne.
The weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was €620-645 per tonne, stable week on week.
Offers in the region were reported at €620-645 per tonne.
Germany lowers economic forecast
On Tuesday, news agency Reuters reported that the German government had lowered its economic forecast for 2025 to zero growth, downgrading from 0.3% growth in gross domestic product (GDP) as forecast in January.
Geopolitical tensions, global market chaos because of the uncertainty in US tariffs, and weak domestic demand were factors which contributed to this.
“The German economy is once again facing major challenges due to the unpredictable trade policy of the US,” German economy minister Robert Habeck said.
“Given the German economy’s close integration into global supply chains,” he added, “and our high level of foreign trade openness, the new US protectionism could have significant direct and indirect effects on our economic growth.”
Published by: India-Inés Levy
