Although published prices for US domestic merchant bar have remained stable for the last few months, sources tell SteelOrbis that hardly any distributor of any size is paying full price. The majority of the deals are reportedly taking place at about $0.50-$1.00 cwt. ($10-$20/nt or $11-$22/mt) below list prices, while the largest national distributors have been regularly booking with discounts and rebates of up to $6.00 cwt. ($120/nt or $132/mt), according to sources. However, mills have not attempted to “clean up” the discounting, as they have in the past, primarily because such efforts never seem to stick. With demand for merchant bar decent and competition from imports stable, the discounting trend is expected to continue, even if mills decide to raise prices in the near future to take advantage of uptrending scrap.
Import prices, meanwhile, have also maintained a relatively neutral trend, although sources tell SteelOrbis that prices are slightly below what they were at this time last year. Current offers from Turkey are hovering around $36.00 cwt. ($720/mt or $794/mt) DDP loaded truck into US East Coast ports, whereas offers into the Gulf are about $1.00 cwt. less. Some rumors have started circulating that Turkish mills are “pulling back” a bit with their merchant bar exports to the US, but for now, traders say inquiry activity is still stable.
Current US domestic published prices (ex-mill):
| Product Name | Specification | Price ($/cwt) | Price ($/mt) | Price ($/nt) |
| Flat Bar | ½ x 4” | $40.85 | $901 | $817 |
| Angles | 2 x 2 x ¼” | $40.65 | $896 | $813 |
| 4 x 4 x ½” | $41.90 | $924 | $838 | |
| Square Bar | 1" | $40.60 | $895 | $812 |
| Round Bar | 1" | $42.05 | $927 | $841 |
| Channels | 3 x 3 ½” | $41.60 | $917 | $832 |