Steel rebar prices in Poland went down in the week to Friday June 16 because of oversupply but were expected to stabilize soon because they were approaching the cost line for mills, and demand was expected to pick up, sources told Fastmarkets.Official offer prices from two local producers during the assessment week were heard at 2,650 zloty ($646) per tonne CPT. This was roughly equivalent to 2,620-2,630 zloty per tonne ex-works, and compared with 2,800-2,850 zloty per tonne CPT early this month.
Another mill was reported to be selling rebar at slightly lower prices around 2,600 zloty per tonne ex-works.
One source reported a sale of a sizeable tonnage of rebar to a distributor at 2,600 zloty per tonne CPT (around 2,570 zloty per tonne ex-works) during the week, but this was not confirmed by other market participants.
Sources told Fastmarkets that end-user demand for rebar in the country has started to pick up recently from the low levels seen in the past few weeks. But local producers still had plenty of unsold rebar in stock, so rebar prices were unlikely to rebound in the near future.
“Demand [for rebar] is picking up a bit. But mills have full stocks, so the [rebar] price will not go up any time soon. But we are very close to the bottom [of the market],” a distributor said.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Poland, was 2,600-2,630 zloty per tonne on Friday, down by 80-120 zloty per tonne from 2,680-2,750 zloty per tonne on June 9.
In the secondary market, rebar prices declined to 2,680-2,700 zloty per tonne CPT, compared with 2,760-2,800 zloty per tonne CPT last week.
Producers believed that domestic rebar prices in Poland were close to rock-bottom, and were hoping for a stabilization or even a rebound in early July.
Import rebar offers to Poland were scarce.
“Overseas suppliers have not been very interested in selling to Poland recently, because prices have been falling non-stop,” a trading source said.
A rebar offer from a Hungarian mill for July delivery was heard at €600 ($653) per tonne CPT Poland during the assessment week.
Published by: Julia Bolotova
