Polish rebar prices slide again on limited trading, overstocking

Steel rebar prices in Poland continued to slide during the week to Friday November 18 amid subdued trading, overstocking at buyers and bearish sentiment, Fastmarkets heard.

Official offers from three mills in the country were reported at 3,450-3,500 zloty ($760-771) per tonne CPT (3,400-3,450 zloty per tonne ex-works), compared with 3,600-3,700 zloty per tonne CPT in the first half of November.

Sources told Fastmarkets that producers were chasing volumes and were ready to cut the price on a firm bid.

But trading has remained limited in Poland, with mainly back-to-back sales reported.

Notably, transactions for tonnages of 500-1,000 tonnes were reported at 3,300-3,450 per tonne EXW during the assessment week.

Large stockholders and distributors still have quite high inventories and were focused on destocking ahead of the year-end, following the traditional cycle.

“Stockists still have enough to last them till the end of the year. Everyone is selling just to get rid of all old material,” the trading source said.

As a result, Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Poland was 3,300-3,450 zloty per tonne on Friday, down by 150 zloty per tonne from 3,450-3,600 zloty per tonne a week earlier.

In the secondary market, rebar was offered and traded around 3,500 zloty per tonne CPT during the week and even below that level in some cases.

Import rebar offers were scarce in the Polish market.

Notably, the latest offers from Moldova to Poland were reported at €750 ($777) per tonne CPT earlier this month, but the price idea among buyers was no higher than €714 per tonne CPT, given the downtrend in the domestic market.

Italian suppliers were out of the market. The most recent offers were heard at €750 per tonne CPT in early November.

Published by: Julia Bolotova