A slight upswing in order activity in the US import rebar market has reportedly encouraged US traders to translate higher rebar prices from Turkey on the CFR level to offer prices in the US. Since last week, offer prices have increased only marginally, by about $0.50 cwt. ($10/nt or $11/mt), but the trend is expected to continue, lifting offers gradually higher than the new range of $28.75-$29.75 cwt. ($575-$595/nt or $634-$656/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports. According to sources, the increase in demand is partially due to predictions that next month’s final ruling in the trade case against Turkey and Mexico will result in much higher margins. Intense political pressure already proved fruitful in the trade case against OCTG, and market players believe the same could happen with rebar. As such, US customers are “getting while the getting’s good”.
However, the demand bump for imports has not had any effect on the US domestic rebar market, with prices remaining in the range of $34.75-$35.75 cwt. ($695-$715/nt or $766-$788/mt) ex-mill after mills easily pushed a modest $0.50 cwt. ($10/nt or $11/mt) transaction price increase through at the end of last month. Some sources even think mills might ride out that success and announce another increase in the next couple weeks, for another moderate amount.