Rebar players in northwestern Europe see no signal for a resurgence of prices, but do not see much room for a further deterioration either, Kallanish hears.
There has been little move since base prices in many cases undercut the mark of €400/tonne ($427) in March. That translated to a delivered price of €665/t, including the size extra of €265/t. The Lent period meant lean business, and Easter did not bring a resurrection for the construction industry and its suppliers.
A buyer at a distributor in southwestern Germany sees base prices at €390/t, “and with a lot of luck at €380.” One regional mill is recognised for attempting keeping prices up, whilst other buyers report softer figures. A manager of another mill does not contradict the suggestion that €370-380/t is a fair assessment these days.
According to one Dutch buyer, who also reports €375/t as his purchasing price, the mills cannot go any further down to cover their costs. “The only way would be up,” he tells Kallanish.
The mill manager maintains that there is little movement to be expected in the next two quarters on the construction market, neither for volumes nor for prices.
According to another buyer, eastern German rebar mills these days sell material to Poland, noting that this traditionally used to be the other way round. “The European Union has resumed its subsidies for construction there, which had been suspended temporarily,” he states, explaining the better grounds for business in Poland.
Christian Koehl Germany
