Rebar
Polish mills offered rebar at 2,900 zloty ($720) per tonne CPT in the week to Friday, which nets back to around 2,880 zloty per tonne ex-works.
The mills revised their offers downward compared with the previous week, when offers were heard in the range of 2,900-2,950 zloty per tonne CPT, which nets back to around 2,880-2,920 zloty per tonne ex-works. Offers at the higher end of this price range were not available this week, according to Fastmarkets’ sources.
“I don’t think anyone bought anything from Polish mills [even] at their offer price of 2,900 zloty per tonne CPT [last week],” a distributor source told Fastmarkets.
They added that deals for volumes of around 500 tonnes and above were concluded at 2,850-2,860 zloty per tonne CPT last week, which nets back to about 2,830-2,840 zloty per tonne ex-works.
A deal in an even lower range of 2,800-2,820 zloty per tonne CPT for February production was heard last week, which nets back to around 2,780-2,800 zloty per tonne ex-works.
Fastmarkets excluded these transactions from this week’s assessment because they were done in the previous assessment period.
This week, price levels in the range of 2,800-2,820 zloty per tonne CPT were not available in the market, sources told Fastmarkets.
Besides, market activity remained soft this week.
“Demand is still weak, and it will probably not change until March,” the distributor source told Fastmarkets.
“The [market] activity is very low, not much is happening. Buyers are waiting to see where the market direction will go,” a second distributor source told Fastmarkets.
They added that one Polish producer decreased its scrap prices by 50 zloty this week.
“New scrap prices will be available by other producers next week,” the second distributor added. “There are some expectations in the market that other producers might do the same. This can eventually result in slightly decreased rebar prices.”
They estimated workable market levels in the range of 2,850-2,870 zloty per tonne CPT, which nets back to around 2,830-2,840 zloty per tonne ex-works.
A consumer source estimated the tradable market level for volumes above 1,000 tonnes at 2,880 zloty per tonne CPT, which nets back to around 2,860 zloty per tonne ex-works. Fastmarkets excluded this estimation from its final assessment because it is not in line with the volume specifications in its methodology.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, exw Poland was 2,830-2,840 zloty per tonne on Friday, down by 40-50 zloty per tonne from 2,880 zloty per tonne on February 2.
Wire rod
Polish mills continued offering wire rod in the range of 3,100-3,300 zloty per tonne CPT in the week to Friday, sources told Fastmarkets. Slightly lower offers were also heard at 3,050 zloty per tonne CPT.
However, demand remained very weak, and no major deals were heard in the market.
The offer price of 3,300 zloty per tonne CPT was not considered tradable by market participants, except for very small volumes.
A third distributor source estimated tradable market levels for wire rod in the range of 2,850-3,000 zloty per tonne CPT, specifying that for volumes between 50 and 100 tonnes the workable price should be closer to 2,850 zloty per tonne CPT.
However, this level was not confirmed by other market participants. They estimated the tradable market level in the range of 2,900-3,000 zloty per tonne CPT.
Thus, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (drawing quality), domestic, delivered Poland was 2,900-3,000 zloty per tonne on Friday, narrowing downward by 100 zloty per tonne from the previous week’s 2,900-3,100 zloty per tonne.
Import offers of wire rod from Italy to Poland were heard in the range of €675-700 ($727-754) per tonne CPT.
Import offers of the material from European producers were also heard at €660 per tonne CPT.
Ukraine continued to offer mesh-grade wire rod at €660-670 per tonne CPT, and some deals for such material were concluded at prices in that range, Fastmarkets heard.
Published by: Darina Kahramanova
