Looking at the European rebar market over the past week, it is observed that prices in eastern Europe have continued to register a downtrend, while prices in southern Europe have maintained the same levels as in the previous week.
No price changes have been observed in the past week in the local and export markets of Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Thus, players are wondering if the market has finally touched the bottom. Meanwhile, southern Europe rebar market players, who experienced another inactive week on the demand side, got excited over the price increase of Turkish suppliers (their most important competitors in the export markets) observed towards the end of the last week. This week we will have a clearer idea of the possible advantage gained by European market players.
On the eastern Europe side, producers have still been lowering the levels of their rebar offers. A further descent has been observed in Bulgaria and Romania, with demand still showing weakness in these countries. Additionally, producers in Latvia and Poland have continued to reduce their rebar offers. Rebar prices in the German domestic market have maintained their downward trend under the influence of import offers. In general, with buyers purchasing only minimum amounts in southern Europe, tonnages in the region are at low levels. As regards the rebar markets, things are gloomier in eastern Europe as compared to the situation in southern Europe.
Last week was another silent week in Europe overall. As already mentioned above, since there was no price change in some countries, some market players have begun to wonder if the downtrend has come to an end. However, it should be remembered that only stability of a more permanent nature would provide a firmer answer on the issue, thus helping to restore buyers' confidence. More importantly, momentum is needed on the side of end-user demand. In order for such momentum to be achieved, confidence problems with the banks will have to be resolved and the banks will have to relent somewhat in their current strict stance on issuing credit to market players. Also, with Turkish producers having increased their rebar prices towards the end of the last week (as there was no further softening in scrap prices), Italian and Spanish producers, who are in a competition with the Turkish producers in Africa in particular, may see some reason to become hopeful.