Many mills in Northern Europe have paused rebar production until March in an attempt to rebalance supply-demand dynamics given the persistently poor demand and high input costs, market sources said.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was €620-640 ($646-667) per tonne on Wednesday, down week on week by €5 per tonne from €625-645 per tonne.
Prices remained broadly stable in the Northern European rebar market, with offers reported around €630-640 per tonne while deals were reported more frequently around €620 per tonne, sources said.
Demand was reported to be subdued following restarts after the Christmas break.
“Most people bought material before Christmas and are now waiting to receive it, so there is not much demand. Most buying is hand-to-mouth, and no one is interested in imports now,” a buyer source told Fastmarkets.
“The outlook is that the market is waiting for prices to possibly increase, because production stoppages limit available capacity and encourage price rises,” he said.
Steel mills cannot reduce prices because of the rocketing costs for gas and electricity, market sources said.
Import offers for rebar into Northern Europe have been scarce due to the long timelines, slow demand and prices that were not significantly lower than the domestic prices currently available, market sources said.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was €600-620 per tonne on Wednesday, widening downward by €10 per tonne from €610-620 per tonne last week.
Wire rod producers in Northern Europe reported deals at €600-620 per tonne.
