Polish rebar producers fail to raise prices in quiet market

Polish steel rebar producers were pushing for higher prices in the week to Friday August 19 to account for rising costs, but buyers were reluctant to accept any increase amid poor end-user demand, market sources told Fastmarkets.
The rebar market in Poland has been relatively stable in the seven days to Friday, with the material trading at around 3,800-3,900 zloty ($816-838) per tonne exw.

In particular, one transaction was reported at 3,830 zloty per tonne exw.

But traded volumes during the assessment week were quite low and buyers were mainly interested in purchasing mixed lots of materials, rather than just rebar, market sources said.

At the same time, prefabricators and cut-and-benders mentioned that there had been no inquiries for large volumes of rebar from end users lately. This was due to a slowdown in the construction industry, notably in the private sector, because many new projects have been put on hold due to a lack of demand for new apartments and houses.

Despite the gloomy prospects for the construction sector, some local rebar producers in Poland attempted to push for higher prices this week, citing surging energy costs. Notably, an offer from Celsa Huta Ostrowiec was reported at 4,300 zloty per tonne delivered (about 4,250-4,270 zloty per tonne exw), however this was said to be substantially higher than the price buyers were willing to pay in the current market.

As a result, Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Poland, was 3,800-3,900 zloty per tonne on Friday, widening downward by 50 zloty per tonne from 3,850-3,900 per tonne on August 12.

The assessment was based on deals, the lower end of offers and buyers’ estimates of achievable prices.

In the secondary market, stockholders were offering rebar at 3,960-3,980 zloty per tonne cpt, stable from the week before.

Market sources said domestic rebar prices in Poland would likely rollover until September, while further prospects were still unclear.

“On the one hand we have an energy crisis and cost inflation, and on the other we have a looming recession. So, [rebar] price direction is hard to predict,” a trading source in the local market said.

No new offers for imported rebar were reported during the week.

European producers were largely out of the market due to summer closures and were in no rush to make new offers for September.

Published by: Julia Bolotova