Polish steel rebar prices dip, some mills halt operations on low demand

Steel rebar prices in Poland have gone down again on weak demand, with some mills stopping production, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday April 21.
Rebar offers from mills in Poland were reported this week around 3,300 zloty ($785) per tonne CPT (equivalent to about 3,270-3,280 zloty per tonne ex-works) for 12mm rebar, compared with 3,350 zloty per tonne CPT last week.

For tonnages of 1,000 tonnes or more, however, producers were ready to accept lower prices – around 3,200 zloty per tonne ex-works, sources said.

Transactions were reported during the week around 3,200-3,250 per tonne ex-works, sources said. But, in general, trading activity remained poor, and buyers expected prices to go lower in May.

During the assessment week, one rebar producer in southeastern Poland stopped production, citing weak demand.

“On April 18, [the rebar producer] said that it was stopping production because of a lack of demand [and] good stocks [of rebar],” a trading source said.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Poland, fell to 3,200-3,250 zloty per tonne on April 21, down by 50 zloty per tonne from 3,250-3,300 zloty per tonne on April 14.

In the secondary market, rebar was on offer and was traded around 3,320-3,350 zloty per tonne CPT, slightly down week-on-week.

Imports were largely absent from the market during the assessment week. The only offer heard was for rebar in coils at €715 ($784) per tonne from Italy in the first half of the week.

Published by: Julia Bolotova