While most of Nucor's bar mills have announced an October 15 net decrease to rebar, merchant bar and structural product transaction prices totaling $30/nt ($33/mt or $1.50 cwt.), two of Nucor's bar mills in the western US have announced that they will keep rebar prices stable.
SteelOrbis learns that Nucor's two bar mills in the western US, located in Plymouth, Utah and in Seattle, Washington, have both raised base prices for rebar by $30/nt as of October 15 to offset the $30/nt decrease in the Raw Materials Surcharge (RMS) applicable to Nucor's long products. Nucor is therefore keeping transaction prices for rebar produced at the Plymouth and Seattle mills unchanged from October 1 levels. (Other bar products produced at these mills will mimic the $30/nt transaction price decrease issued by Nucor's other bar mills.)
Though this price move may cause some confusion for steel buyers in the mountain zone and West Coast, rebar prices are holding firmer west of the Rockies than they are in the rest of the country. Domestic rebar offers on the West Coast are, on average, priced at $24.25 to $24.75 cwt. ($535/mt to $546/mt or $485/nt to $495/nt) ex mill, which is over $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) higher than going Midwest rates. The western US does not host a significant number of rebar makers and domestic competition is less of an issue than in the rest of the country. Furthermore, Asian rebar imports have remained extremely light. These factors will likely continue to allow rebar prices in the western US to stay above the national average.
On October 14, a number of Nucor's bar mills, including Auburn, New York; Birmingham, Alabama; Kankakee, Illinois; Darlington, South Carolina; and Nucor-Yamato (Nucor's beam mill in Blytheville, Arkansas) announced that for shipments as of October 15, transaction prices for rebar, merchant bar and structurals, including wide flange beams, would drop by $30/nt. This $30/nt net price drop was achieved by a decrease of the same amount RMS for these products, effective October 15. Base prices for products produced at these mills have remained unchanged from October 1 levels.