Although Mexican domestic rebar prices averaged around US$709/nt ex-mill last week, prices have now been heard as low as US$700/mt ex-mill and as high as US$724/mt ex-mill. With most transactions concluding around the middle, the new range represents a slight uptrend from the general level last week.
Downstream, distributors are selling rebar in the level of US$817/mt.
Currently, the domestic Mexican market has a surplus of about 2.5 million tons of rebar, and it could grow with the opening of new mills. Sources tell SteelOrbis that the new Industrias Lenox plant, for example, will add between 200,000 and 300,000 metric tons of rebar per year; the resulting increase in the already oversupplied will put downward pressure on domestic rebar prices.
At the end of 2012, the national apparent consumption of rebar was 3.136 million tons and by 2013, consumption is expected to grow 4.2 percent, to reach 3.267 million tons.