Polish rebar price expectedly drops

Polish rebar price expectedly drops

Central Europe / long products

Polish rebar prices tumbled on weaker scrap, cheap imports. Insiders believe there is still room for further decrease.despite good demand from end-users, Polish mills had to cut prices for rebar in the second half of September because of lower scrap prices and aggressive import offers. Besides, insiders say there is an excess of supply in the market. “It is a strange situation as demand is not so bad, but mills are still decreasing prices claiming that for them demand is not good enough. Maybe they have too big production capacity,” a local source told Metal Expert.Over two weeks’ prices for 12 mm rebar in Poland slipped by some EUR 15/t to PLN 2,020-2,070/t (EUR 465-477/t) EXW. However, such a big drop failed to spur the buying as insiders believe the downtrend is not over yet. “We will abstain from any purchases unless we get a price of about EUR 445-450/t [EXW] for October rolling. Mills are not ready to agree yet, but in 2 weeks it will be a market price,” a source in the market said.Offers from the CIS suppliers to Poland also lost some EUR 15/t over the re- viewed period. The price for rebar from Russia and Moldova for end-October delivery was reported at around EUR 445-450/t DAP border (EUR 470/t CPT), with deals heard at a lower price range. Russian wire rod offers slipped by EUR 5/t to EUR 470-475/t DAP border (EUR 490-495/t CPT) over the reviewed   period.The Italian supplier also stepped back by EUR 10/t, however in case of a deal additional discounts are possible, sources say. “Given the downtrend in scrap and slack demand in Italy, they are ready to cut another 10 EUR/t to secure a deal,” a Polish trader told.

Poland:  September  Prices  for  12  MM  BSt  500S  Rebar  EUR/t  (PIN/t)

(EXCL. 23% VAT;  EUR 1 = PLN  4.34)

Huta Czestoсhowa to resume operations in October as lessee approved

Central europe / flat Products

Huta Czestoсhowa finally learnt the name of its new leaseholder, which is reported- ly ready to resume operations at the troubled asset in October.The trustee of Huta Czestoсhowa and Polish financing institution Sunningwell International Polska today signed a lease agreement for one year, a spokesman for the district court of Czestoсhowa told Metal Expert. The new lessee reportedly wants to resume production at the mill already in October and will explore optionsto increase plate output. “We want to prepare to start production between October 5 and October 10,” Marek Frydrych, Managing director of Sunningwell International told the Polish media. He added that first of all a hot area should be restart- ed to be able to receive slabs for the rolling mill. Sunningwell is also looking for potential slab suppliers, because the slab conticaster capacity at Huta Czestoсho- wa is 800,000 tpy, while the rolling capacity is 1.2  million tpy.Before the shutdown in May this year, monthly plate production at Huta Czestoсhowa was around 40,000 t, Metal Expert learnt. Another bidder, Cognor, was reportedly offering to maintain low capacity utilization rates during the winter period, which was found inappropriate and its bid was rejected.Huta Czestoсhowa, a sole integrated plate producer in Poland, stopped offering plate in April and ceased operations starting May. In early September the company was declared bankrupt. The major stakeholder of the plant was Ukrainian ISd Group. In 2017-2018, actual plate production was estimated at around 550,000-600,000 tpy.