Despite continued reports of flexibility for certain buyers and tonnage amounts, import offers for Turkish rebar in the US started to tick upward. However, traders are still focused on getting through stockpiles of positions, and many say it will be “quite a while” before the uptrend in rebar offers makes its way into sales prices in the US. As such, offer prices in the US are still ranging from $21.75-$22.75 cwt. ($435-$455/nt or $480-$502/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports.
Although it is not known right now how long the import uptrend will last, sources say that US domestic rebar mills are taking it as a “good omen”. Last week, SteelOrbis reported that fewer transactions were taking place at the bottom end of the still-current $31.50-$32.50 cwt. ($630-$650/nt or $694-$717/mt) ex-mill range, and if the import trend sustains, sources say transactions will veer closer to the middle of the range.