Another week of tepid inquiries for future orders of Turkish rebar to the US highlight both the slackening demand in the US rebar market and the rising availability of positions at the port. Traders who say they are trying to book orders with “already razor-thin margins” are reportedly finding better luck with positions, even though they’ve had to “slash” prices far below the original purchase price.
According to the latest US steel import license data, the US brought in 69,753 mt of rebar from Turkey so far in August (as of August 16), joining 17,483 mt from Japan and 25,785 mt from Taiwan. Sources tell SteelOrbis that among the various sources of import rebar positions, prices are relatively comparable as traders are more interested in unloading inventory than getting the best price.
As for future order prices, Turkish rebar is now being offered at $20.00-$21.00 cwt. ($400-$420/nt or $441-$463/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, reflecting a $1.00 cwt. ($10/nt or $11/mt) drop on the high end—but not because prices have “decreased”. Rather, the high end of the range has been vulnerable for quite some time, sources say, and the few transactions on that end have finally dried up.