Despite steady demand for rebar in the US, ample availability of imports at the port, and domestic offers that don’t appear set to increase anytime soon, interest in US import rebar has stagnated. Sources tell SteelOrbis that the situation is mostly attributed to uncertainty in the market, with indications that Section 232 tariffs might be swapped for quotas with some countries, or entirely scrapped with others. Import buyers are understandably hesitant to place orders that, depending on trade decisions made during the shipping period, could be too expensive once the order arrives.
As such, even low-priced positions at the port are not moving as fast as they once were, with one source reporting that some sellers are “severely low-balling” offers on already-arrived material, in some cases for a few dollars less than the cheapest positions elsewhere.
As for future order offers, those have remained stable this week. Import rebar offers in the US market from Italy and Spain are still around $38.50-$39.50 cwt. ($849-$871/mt or $770-$790/nt) DDP loaded truck at US Gulf ports, while most prices for currently available inventory at the ports from the same countries remain around $36.00-$37.00 cwt. ($794-$816/mt or $720-$740/nt) DDP loaded truck in the Gulf. However, sources say there is a “decent chance” deals below that range will become more widespread.