Rebar offers from three local producers were broadly stable week on week, in the range of 2,680-2,700 ($652-657) zloty per tonne CPT, which would net back to about 2,650-2,680 zloty per tonne EXW.
One producer in the south of Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship, was rumored to have stopped rolling operations in a face of slow demand, but it was not widely confirmed by all source before the publication deadline.
Rare transactions were reported within the range of 2,630-2,650 zloty per tonne ex-works during the week. Mills in the region were able to offer rebar from stock with quick shipment, market sources said.
“Demand still weak, only hope is that really some construction projects will start from September, but in general I think rollover [of rebar prices] is the best scenario we can expect,” a trading source said.
In July the Polish government launched a support program for the nation’s “first home buyers,” offering housing loans with a fixed 2% interest rate over 10 years, with the difference to the actual interest rate covered by the state.
That program, available for young people only for their first house or apartment purchase, is supposed to stimulate residential construction, sources said, but only starting 2024.
“As for subsidies for purchase of first apartment, it should revive residential construction area, but I think it will happen 1Q or even 2Q of 2024,” a second trader said.
At the same time, public construction sector in the nation was underperforming due to lack of funding, source said,
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Poland was 2,630-2,650 zloty per tonne on Friday, narrowing upwards by 30 zloty per tonne from 2,600-2,650 zloty per tonne seven days ago.
In the secondary market, rebar prices were reported at 2,720- 2,750 zloty per tonne CPT, largely flat week on week.
Wire rod
The wire rod market in Poland has also been extremely quiet recently due to both seasonality and lackluster end-user demand.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (drawing quality), domestic, delivered Poland was 2,750-2,800 zloty per tonne on Friday, unchanged since July 7.
The assessment was based on rare deals reported at 2,750-2,760 zloty per tonne CPT and offers from local mills heard at 2,800-2,900 zloty per tonne CPT.
Import wire rod offers to Poland were also stable over the past seven days. European suppliers were largely out of the market due to summer
holidays.
One Ukrainian supplier was offering mesh-quality wire rod from stock at €610-615 ($663-669) per tonne CPT depending on tonnage, sources said.
Another Ukrainian supplier was offering mesh-quality wire rod at €585 per tonne CPT from stock. At the same time, one source noted that at the border, the same supplier was offering wire rod at around €530 per tonne DAP, which would net back to about €560-565 per tonne CPT.
Published by: Julia Bolotova
