Polish rebar mills cut offer prices to stimulate buying activity

Steel rebar prices in Poland declined modestly in the week to September 16, with producers starting to give discounts to try and encourage buying activity, sources told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Poland, was 4,200-4,300 zloty ($889-910) per tonne on Friday, down by 50 zloty per tonne from 4,250-4,350 per tonne on September 9.

Rebar offers from two local producers came in at 4,200-4,300 zloty ($922-932) per tonne delivered exw during the assessment week, down from 4,300-4,350 zloty per tonne exw the previous week.

Deals, however, were done closer to the lower end of the price range, sources said.

In the secondary market, rebar was offered and traded at 4,350-4,400 zloty per tonne delivered, down from about 4,400 zloty per tonne delivered seven days ago.

Weak demand for rebar from end-users continued to undermine buyer confidence, sources said.

“The problem is that the real demand [for rebar] is very weak – there are no big projects under construction,” one trader said.

He also suggested, however, that the impact of surging energy costs on the steel sector might not be as dramatic as expected, due to anticipated aid from the Turkish government.

“There are [suggestions] that energy consuming industries will get some aid from governments to make up for surging energy prices,” he said.

In addition, falling scrap prices in Europe and elsewhere have been putting pressure on rebar prices in Poland.

Market participants told Fastmarkets they expect domestic rebar prices in Poland to sink even lower in October.

“We expect to offer October rolling rebar at 4,150-4,250 zloty per tonne [delivered],” another trading source in Poland told Fastmarkets.

Published by: Julia Bolotova