German rebar prices have seen the drop some market participants were expecting, after defying the downtrend in neighbouring countries for months.

Base prices have now largely undercut the mark of €400/tonne ($460), which had long remained unbroken, with some deals peaking at €430/t. A buyer at a Ruhr-based distribution/bending group tells Kallanish of base prices between €380 and €390, which together with the average size extra of €265 would result in €645-655/t delivered.

While smaller customers might still have to expect higher prices, the break through the €400/t barrier is confirmed from southern Germany, where price levels tend to be lower than in the Ruhr. A manager there attributes the decline to the preceding fall in scrap prices, which a month ago came down by more than $50/t in Rotterdam.

In Germany, scrap prices did not fall quite as dramatically, but mills have meanwhile factored them in to some extent, the Ruhr buyer says. German scrap merchants resisted the drastic downtrend in export prices by lowering only limited volumes by $50/t, but demanded higher prices when mills needed more supply, he explains.

The slide in rebar prices has occurred rapidly, which the buyer attributes to typical purchasing behaviour in times of low demand: “Once the trend goes down, people buy even less than before,” he says.

He also notes that Riva Germany is now back to providing a larger range of products and sizes. While the EAF at Riva Hennigsdorf remains idle, the rolling mill has been temporarily reactivated to meet demand from customers.