Although offer prices for Turkish rebar on the CFR level has not moved up in the last week, traders in the US are trying to boost too-thin margins for future orders with limited success. Position deals at the port are one culprit, while another is other traders offering for slightly under the current general offer range of $29.50-$30.50 cwt. ($590-$610/nt or $650-$672/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, aiming to get as many orders under their belts as they can before the trade case ruling later this week. Meanwhile, offers from Taiwan are already up on the CFR level, although lackluster demand on the West Coast has led to trader-based resistance to prices any higher than the current level of around $32.00 cwt. ($640/nt or $705/mt) DDP in US West Coast ports.
As for the US domestic rebar market, customers are still awaiting an announcement from mills. An increase of around $1.00 cwt. ($20/nt or $22/mt) is expected, especially since wire rod mills--which are also dealing with high import volumes but much weaker domestic demand--announced such an increase for May shipments last week. Until anything is official, US domestic rebar spot prices are still in the range of $33.50-$34.50 cwt. ($670-$690/nt or $739-$760/mt) ex-mill.