Although two major US domestic rebar mills last week announced effective-immediately price increases in the amount of $1.00 cwt. ($20/nt or $22/mt), two other major US rebar mills have not yet responded, throwing the fate of the increase into uncertainty. Without direction from Nucor and SDI, the price hike initiated by Gerdau and CMC has stalled, according to sources. Another source speculated that if Nucor and SDI haven’t responded by now, “they probably won’t.”
As for possible reasons behind the hesitation, sources tell SteelOrbis that US domestic scrap prices are likely headed for a downtrend this month, and although input costs are on the rise from a global shortage of graphite electrodes, a moderate to substantial drop in shredded scrap prices would “chip away at mill leverage” to raise rebar prices.
So far, sources say the market overall remains in a “wait and see” mode regarding the increase. As such, most spot prices for US domestic rebar are still in the range of $33.25-$34.75 cwt. ($665-$695/nt or $733-$766/mt) ex-mill, unchanged in the last week.