Local rebar prices in Mexico’s North Region were reported higher this past week amid reports of continued high raw materials costs in the form of scrap, and as local rebar supplies remain reduced while repairs are completed this month at an ArcelorMittal rebar and wire rod facility that was damaged in August, market insiders told SteelOrbis. Wire rod prices slipped amid scant local demand, they said.
“We haven’t heard much new information concerning the ArcelorMittal plant,” said one Mexican long steel insider. “We don’t yet know about specific times and volumes [of additional long steel] that will be made available, though like you, we have heard that [it could happen soon].”
This week’s SteelOrbis North Mexico region rebar price range is reported slightly higher at MXN 14,200-14,300/ton, or on average MXN 14,250/ton, ($769/mt), up from an average of MXN 14,200/ton ($772/mt), at last report during the week of Oct. 13.
“I think [rebar] prices will remain strong in Northern Mexico due to the continued high scrap costs and how mill profitability has recently been [reduced],” the Mexican insider added. “It will really depend on how rational ArcelorMittal is when they come back fully into the market and attempt to recover their customers.”
In the Mexican wire rod segment, North Region local supply is discussed in limited trade at MXN 14,000/ton ($756/mt), off from a delivered to customer price average at MXN 14,200-14,300/ton ($772-777/mt).
According to an earlier “technical recovery plan,” announced by the mill in mid-October, rebar and wire rod production as well as DRI output from the plant, was expected to be at full capacity by the end of November, earlier than originally planned. While no update has been made available to SteelOrbis, at last report, two of four of the plant’s DRI modules were said to be operational, the company said. To maintain supply during the outage, the company said it had introduced several strategic measures, including purchasing hot briquetted iron (HBI) from its sister plant in Texas, maximizing scrap use during the production processes, as well as importing slabs from ArcelorMittal, Brazil, to sustain uninterrupted HRC production.
$1 = MXN 18.52, up from MXN 18.39 at last report.