Rebar
Polish mills offered April-production rebar at 2,700 zloty ($682) per tonne CPT, which nets back to about 2,670 zloty per tonne ex-works, sources told Fastmarkets.
For volumes bigger than 500 tonnes, mills were willing to grant a discount of 20-30 zloty per tonne.
These levels were lower compared with the previous week when rebar was offered at 2,700-2,740 zloty per tonne CPT, which is equivalent to 2,680-2,710 zloty per tonne ex-works.
Market participants estimated tradeable market levels at 2,700 zloty per tonne CPT for small tonnages, which nets back to about 2,670 zloty per tonne CPT.
The workable market level for volumes larger than 500 tonnes was 2,670-2,680 zloty per tonne CPT, which equates to 2,650-2,660 zloty per tonne ex-works, according to market participants.
But lower prices failed to spur trading and no major deals were heard in the market, .
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Poland was 2,650-2,670 zloty per tonne on Friday, down by 30-40 zloty per tonne from 2,680-2,710 zloty per tonne on March 28.
“Consumption is not that bad, but customers are still receiving the material they have already ordered. Once [the ordered volumes] are delivered, they will start buying again,” a producer source told Fastmarkets.
According to a consumer source, the Polish rebar market was quiet in the first week after Easter, but more deals are expected in the coming week.
Buyers shared mixed views about the rebar market’s development in the near future.
“Demand for unprocessed rebar is bad; [it] seems that prices will have to go down further,” a distributor source told Fastmarkets.
“On the other hand, the cut-and-bend sector is doing well, so maybe Polish mills will not be eager to continue with decreases,” the distributor added.
According to a second distributor source, demand from the cut-and-bend sector is not the same in all regions of Poland, and from their perspective, it was poor this week and the previous week.
They added that cut-and-bend companies had bought some volumes in recent weeks due to dropping prices and the fact that they had foreseen higher prices for the material in their budgets. The second distributor source was also pessimistic about demand from the construction sector in the next two months.
The direction of Polish rebar prices will be clearer next week when most new scrap contracts for the month will be signed, the second distributor source added.
Strong competition from imports also continued to put pressure on the domestic rebar market in Poland. Offers of the material from Germany were heard at €615-620 ($667-673) per tonne delivered. Offers of rebar from Hungary and Italy were heard at €615 per tonne delivered.
Wire rod
Polish mills continued offering drawing-quality wire rod in the range of 2,850-3,000 zloty per tonne CPT in the week to Friday, sources told Fastmarkets.
These offers were unchanged from price levels last week when Polish wire rod producers cut their official offers to stimulate buying.
But demand remained low with no restocking, a third distributor source told Fastmarkets.
Bids were heard at 2,800 zloty per tonne CPT.
Sources indicated tradeable market levels in the range of 2,800-2,900 zloty per tonne CPT but no major deals were heard in the market.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel wire rod (drawing quality), domestic, delivered Poland was 2,800-2,900 zloty per tonne on Friday, widening downward by 50 zloty per tonne from 2,850-2,900 zloty per tonne on March 28.
According to market participants, some restocking could be expected during the Tube and Wire trade fair in Düsseldorf, Germany, on April 15-19.
Import offers of drawing-quality wire rod from Italy were heard at €650-670 per tonne CPT.
Offers of mesh-grade material from Italy, Moldova and Ukraine were heard at €630 per tonne CPT.
Published by: Darina Kahramanova
