Rebar and wire rod markets continued steady this week, as US mills appear to be keeping spot pricing stable to fend off the encroachment of long steel imports, market insiders told SteelOrbis.
Despite recent price increases from US mills for their specialty long steel products, traders said domestic supply and demand appear to be fairly well balanced as markets head into the first half of June. Currently, finished steel prices continue well supported by reduced import competition for market share as a result of ongoing Section 232 steel tariffs, higher energy pricing from recent heightened conflict in the Middle East, as well as improved domestic demand from data center builds and other infrastructure-related long steel buying activities.
In the domestic rebar market, Midwest rebar on an FOB mill basis remained steady for a fourth week at $47.00-48.00/cwt. ($940-960/nt or $1,036-1,058/mt), though up from $46.00-47.00/cwt., ($920-940/nt or $1,014-1,036/mt) earlier. SteelOrbis data shows on a yearly basis, domestic rebar prices remain about 24 percent higher on an equivalent weekly basis.
In the local wire rod markets, spot pricing on the US Gulf Coast remained stable on an FOB mill basis at $50.00-51.00/cwt., ($1,000-1,020/nt or $1,102-1,124/mt).
And, while US long steel pricing is expected to remain fairly static near term, recent actions by the US Trade Representative (USTR) concerning Brazilian pig iron tariffs could cause further market disruptions, insiders said, with a potential move higher in finished steel prices possible, insiders said.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, Brazilian pig iron, included in the list of exemptions from the US import tariffs in November 2025, was not included in a new list, announced by the USTR on June 1.
With the exclusion as it now stands, Brazilian pig iron could be the subject of 25 percent import tariffs in the US, raising concerns by the federation of the industries of the state of Minas Gerais (Fiemg) about the future of the sector.
Contacts in Brazil told SteelOrbis this week that negotiations continue, but they believe that the necessary inclusion in the list of exceptions to tariffs will be achieved by “domestic pressure in the US,” as they “depend on the Brazilian pig iron, not only due to competitive price, but also due to the fact that the Brazilian product is made with charcoal, used as reductant, this resulting in close to zero C02 emissions,” they said.
In a statement, Fiemg added that the potential 25 percent import tariff has created uncertainty for local producers, especially in Sete Lagoas, the state’s main pig iron exporting city, where 85 percent of production is shipped to the US, mostly for use my domestic mills as a replacement for ferrous scrap in steel production.
According to the foreign trade secretariat of the ministry of development, industry and foreign trade (Secex), in 2025 the state of Minas Gerais exported 2.47 million metric tons (mt) of pig iron to the US, worth $1.01 billion. During the first four months of 2026, the numbers were 644,700 mt, worth $258 million.
Regardless of the developing pig iron situation, US markets remain on edge, despite a continuation of stable pricing.
“Current rebar pricing remains steady...not up...not down,” said one US Northeast long steel insider about the current week’s spot market action. “Rebar availability is going to (remain) spotty and we are anticipating mill allocations in the fall,” he added. “Prices are too high to speculate and buy ahead of time, so, if domestic pricing continues higher, imports will increase in quantity.”
Traders are also eyeing recent developments with regard to a May 29 announcement from USTR representative Jamieson Greer about a sweeping Section 301 investigation focusing on structural excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors globally, which broadly includes Vietnamese steel products including the all-important import wire rod sector, where Vietnam recently has been increasingly active on the supply side.
