French rebar prices have bottomed out and are seen flattening through January, market sources tell Kallanish.

Producers are considering a €10/tonne ($11/t) increase starting from January but there is uncertainty regarding the possibility of passing the price hike on to distributors as end-users may refuse to pay it.

“Demand is sluggish, prices in the private and public construction sector are extremely tight and most construction companies are pessimistic about their future performance in 2016. If construction doesn’t pick up next year, rebar prices and volumes will remain tight,” a local source comments.

“We have reached the bottom, prices cannot go lower than this. Even if producers are not firm on future increases, quotations will flatten next month but won’t drop further than the current low levels especially because the scrap price fall has stopped”, another source comments.

At the moment sales volumes and demand remain sluggish in the country and mills’ Christmas shutdowns are imminent. French rebar has lost €20/t on average since the end of October and is now pegged at Italian and German levels of €335-350/t ($362-378/t), sources suggest.