While the overall trend for US domestic rebar is still pointing up, prices have stayed neutral in the last week.
As expected, US rebar mills responded to the sideways shredded scrap move with no change in their transaction prices for September shipments. Spot prices, on the other hand, are still predicted to tick up gradually as domestic demand for rebar remains decent and mill production remains restricted. No spot price movement has been reported in the last week, however, but purchasing activity is expected to increase after the vacation-heavy month of August comes to a close. For now, US domestic rebar spot prices are still in the range of $35.00-$36.00 cwt. ($772-$794/mt or $700-$720/nt) ex-mill.
Looking to the near-future, some sources have told SteelOrbis that mills might even attempt to bump up prices next month for October shipments, by as much as $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt). However, scrap speculation for September is still pointing sideways, and if scrap prices remain neutral yet again, US rebar mills might find it a hard sell to officially increase prices without the foundation of higher raw material costs.
The import rebar market is also looking up, as billet prices in Turkey are on the rise. Sources tell SteelOrbis that because Turkish mills know they will not be able to translate higher billet prices into increased wire rod prices, they will attempt to focus on their export rebar market and possibly boost offer prices in the next week or so. For now, however, import offer prices for Turkish rebar remain in the range of $34.50-$35.50 cwt. ($761-$783/mt or $690-$710/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports.
Mexican rebar offers are also unchanged from last week, but it does not appear that Mexican mills are interested in widening the margin between offers to the US and US domestic spot prices. Allegedly, some major Mexican mills are cautiously trying to keep out of the US trade legislation spotlight while their wire rod shipments to the US are under fire, and the strategy of keeping their rebar prices to the US just underneath US domestic spot prices seems to be working. Therefore, there is little indication that their current offer range of $34.00-$35.00 cwt. ($750-$772/mt or $680-$700/nt) DDP loaded truck delivered to US border states will change anytime soon.