There were few signs in the short to medium term of the very depressed construction industry picking up due to high interest rates, high input costs, high labor costs and a constantly changing regulatory environment.
Demand remained low, with Chinese, Indonesian and Algerian imports weakening demand further.
With depressed market conditions in Europe, high feedstock costs and global steel oversupply, there was little expectation of demand improvement in the coming six months to a year, Fastmarkets heard.
Prices remained unchanged across the steel long market during the assessed week, with market participants reporting slow demand and unchanged market conditions.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment of steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe was €630-645 ($704-721) per tonne on Wednesday, stable week on week.
Meanwhile, scrap prices edged downward week on week.
Fastmarkets’ calculation of its daily index for steel scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix) North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was $360.00 per tonne on Wednesday, down by $5.19 per tonne from $365.19 per tonne a week earlier.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, delivered Northern Europe was €605-630 per tonne, stable week on week.
Prices and market conditions remained stable in the wire rod market, Fastmarkets heard.
