US domestic rebar and wire rod stay flat this week as scrap is forecasted sideways to up slightly for July. “The demand in the US domestic market remains at a low level,” said a Steel Orbis insider. Some of the sources believe that the market players are also expecting to see to what happens after the term of the 90-days pause on reciprocal tariffs expires, which is due on July 9.
In the weekly rebar spot markets, domestic supply on an FOB mill basis was assessed with most transactions noted at $40.00-41.00/cwt, ($800-820/nt or $882-904/mt), on average $40.50/cwt, ($810/nt or $893/mt), unchanged from seven days ago. The buyers do not seem in a rush to accept the current prices, given an almost complete absence of the import activity while buying some materials from traders on the ground. “I don’t think we will see the same surge as we had during the first time Section 232 implementation, the consequences were severe. Someone gained too much but others lost majorly,” a trading source told SteelOrbis.
In the domestic wire rod market, most transactions were reported this week at $46.50-47.50/cwt ($930-950/nt or $1,025-1,047/mt), or an average of $47.00/cwt ($940/nt or $1,036/mt), unchanged from seven days ago. Liberty Steel continues to produce wire rods in a regular mode as we enter the month of July.