In letters to customers sent Thursday, Gerdau Long Steel North America and Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) announced a $25/nt ($1.25 cwt. or $28/mt) decrease in rebar transaction prices, effective immediately, following Nucor's announcement Wednesday for the same decrease amount.
Further, SDI announced a $40/nt ($2.00 cwt. or $44/mt) decrease in merchant bar prices, also following Nucor's announcement Wednesday.
While both companies included the standard disclaimer in their letters about reserving the right to make adjustments based on the marketplace, Gerdau also announced a new policy of making all transaction price moves in the future--both increases and decreases--effective immediately at the time of the announcement, even including existing orders. Typically, price decreases are effective as of the letter date, while increases are effective as of the first of the following month.