After Nucor and Gerdau announced a modest $0.50 cwt. ($10/nt or $11/mt) transaction price increase for rebar (effective with all new orders as of July 28), many in the market welcomed the move after several months of price stagnation. However, while spot prices immediately reflected the increase, bringing the range up to approximately $34.75-$35.75 cwt. ($695-$715/nt or $766-$788/mt) ex-mill, not everyone is optimistic about the move. Sources tell SteelOrbis that even though import arrivals in July came in at about half of June totals, another surge is expected by September, and some would rather have continued price stability than a short-term upswing.
However, even though import offer prices from Turkey have just started to reverse from a low of $28.50-$29.50 cwt. ($570-$590/nt or $628-$650/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, neither current nor recent-past orders have seemed to make a dent in demand for domestic rebar, which (along with scrap to some degree) was the main driver of the Nucor/Gerdau increase. As such, the $0.50 cwt. could very well have staying power, even through an import surge.