Polish steel rebar, wire rod prices down on seasonal low demand

Low demand has pulled down the domestic prices for steel rebar and wire rod in Poland in the week ending Friday August 9, trade sources have told Fastmarkets.

The summer holiday slowdown has also contributed to the poor consumption. And expectations of a possible price rebound in the autumn months were mixed, Fastmarkets heard.

Rebar
Polish mills continued to offer rebar at 2,750 zloty ($694) per tonne CPT in the week to August 9, industry sources told Fastmarkets.

But producers were willing to give discounts, and some volumes were sold at 2,650-2,700 zloty per tonne CPT, Fastmarkets heard.

Market participants estimated the tradeable market level at 2,650-2,700 zloty per tonne CPT.

According to some sources, rebar in Poland could be sold at 2,600 zloty per tonne CPT, but this was not confirmed by the market.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, cpt Poland, was 2,650-2,700 zloty per tonne on Friday, down by 30 zloty per tonne from 2,680-2,730 zloty per tonne the previous week.

“Demand is still weak. I do not see any chance for a price increase in the third quarter,” a distributor source told Fastmarkets. The same source suggested that prices could slide further in September when all mills were back in the market and could see that demand would not improve.

According to a producer source, however, the construction sector in Poland has been performing comparatively well. The source hoped that demand would improve after the summer and would eventually support a price rebound.

In terms of imports, offers of rebar from Germany to Poland were heard at €615-620 ($672-677) per tonne CPT.

Wire rod
Offers of Polish low-carbon drawing-quality wire rod were heard at 2,900 zloty per tonne in the week to August 9, trade sources told Fastmarkets.

Some volumes were traded at 2,850 zloty per tonne CPT, Fastmarkets heard.

Buyer sources estimated the tradeable market level at 2,700-2,800 zloty per tonne CPT, but producer sources did not agree with the lower end of that range, saying that it was too low for sales to be made.

Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel wire rod (drawing quality), domestic, delivered Poland, was 2,800-2,850 zloty per tonne on Friday, narrowing downward by 50 zloty per tonne from 2,800-2,900 zloty per tonne the previous week.

According to a second distributor source, demand for low-carbon drawing-quality wire rod remained low in Poland due to summer holiday absences.

“I hope that demand will improve in September, but restocking, in my opinion, is just a dream,” the source said.

In terms of imports, offers of low-carbon drawing-quality wire rod from Italy were heard at €650-680 per tonne CPT.

Mesh-grade material from Ukraine was offered to Poland at €625 per tonne CPT.

Published by: Darina Kahramanova