US rebar market - June prices up, momentum continues

In accordance with the strong upward pricing trend for domestic rebar, Nucor has decided to raise transaction prices for its rebar shipments by $1.00 cwt. ($22 /mt or $20 /nt), effective June 1st. The raise includes a $0.60 cwt. ($13 /mt or $12 /nt) increase in the Raw Materials Surcharge to account for higher scrap costs, and a $0.40 cwt. ($9 /mt $8 /nt) increase in base prices, which reflects the strong market conditions for rebar. Other domestic producers should follow Nucor's lead, raising their rebar prices by at least $1.00 cwt. next month. Prices have increased because rebar demand for construction-related applications is still very high. Both the housing and the non-residential construction markets are still booming in the US, especially in Texas. As of June 1, domestic rebar offers will range from $26.50 cwt. to $27.00 cwt. ($584 /mt to $595 /mt or $530 /nt to $540 /nt) FOB mill. Things are also going very well on the import side. Even though record amounts of imports have arrived in the last three months, the pricing trend for import rebar remains strongly up, as most Turkish mills have drastically raised their asking prices, by at least $20 /mt. This increase is based on the health of their home market as well as strong demand for rebar worldwide. Also, scrap prices in the Black Sea areas have started to rebound. Another development has been that US dollar has strengthened sharply against Turkish lira recently, which should make exports to US even more attractive. While these higher-priced offers have not found much acceptance yet, they are still good indicators that the import pricing trend is strongly up. On the whole, import offering prices have increased by $0.25 cwt. ($5.50 /mt or $5.00 /nt) since last week, now ranging from $25.00 cwt. to $26.00 cwt. ($551 /mt to $573 /mt or $500 /nt to $520 nt) FOB, loaded truck, in US Gulf ports.