Rebar imports into EU become tricky

Although there are attractive offers from overseas rebar buyers to European customers, some of these might be deceptive in a way not all buyers are aware of, a German observer warns.

One issue is the certification of the rebar product for use in construction according to the regulations of the target countries.

“Quite recently I came across an offer from the western Balkans which claimed to be licensed for Germany through a bureau in Turkey,” which is virtually worthless, according to the observer, himself a buyer of rebar.

Such licenses can only be issued by material testing agencies that are certified by the Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik in Berlin. These agencies pay regular visits to foreign mills to take samples which they take to their laboratories for examination, he explains to Kallanish. The agencies are often public offices linked to universities, like the Technische Universität München, testing the rebar according to the German construction standard DIN 488.

When approved, the mills add a rolling label that is encoded in the ribbing of the rebar, giving information of its origin.

“The technicians know about such details, but not all buyers do,” he says.

Christian Koehl Germany