Slow demand continued to drag on wire rod prices in Poland in the week to Friday July 7, with a rebound unlikely in the short term, sources told Fastmarkets.Official offers for July-rolling low-carbon drawing-quality wire rod by local steelmakers were reported at 2,800-2,900 ($689-713) zloty per tonne CPT, down from 3,100-3,200 zloty per tonne CPT for June-rolling material.
Transactions, however, were reported at lower levels — at 2,750-2,800 zloty per tonne CPT — during the assessment week.
Traded volumes remained thin amid ongoing weakness in the key consuming industry — construction.
“Nobody books more than a truck [of wire rod], nobody is restocking, there is no clarity on whether the downtrend has stopped,” a distributor said.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (drawing quality), domestic, delivered Poland was 2,750-2,800 zloty ($676-689) per tonne on July 7, narrowing downward by 100 zloty per tonne from 2,750-2,900 zloty per tonne on June 30.
Import wire rod offers to Poland were stable to slightly higher during the week to Friday.
Notably, an Italian mill has increased offer prices by €10 ($11) per tonne, to €620 per tonne CPT for July delivery, citing rising output costs.
Sources reported offers from one Ukrainian supplier at €560-570 per tonne DAP border, which would net back to €590-600 per tonne CPT in southern Poland, stable over the week.
Another Ukrainian supplier was offering wire rod from stock at €610-615 per tonne CPT, depending on tonnage, sources said.
Limited tonnages of Moldova-origin drawing-quality wire rod were offered to Poland at €625 per tonne CPT.
Published by: Julia Bolotova