US import long steel prices remained stable in light weekly trade this week as focus once again shifted to renewed military strikes by the US military in the Middle East, and a potential new peace deal, market insiders told SteelOrbis.
On June 11, following several days of intensified US moves against Iranian targets, media reports indicated that US President Trump announced intentions to take control of Kharg Island, a key oil and gas infrastructure asset currently controlled by Iran. After initially calling for more intensified strikes, Trump later reversed plans to launch strikes late on June 11 after reports indicated a memorandum of understanding would be signed as soon as this weekend with Iran, potentially ending the conflict and opening the Strait of Hormuz, where 20 percent of world oil flows. Oil prices dropped more than $3 per barrel on the news, while the US stock market surged more than 1,000 points.
“I would say import long steel pricing has been pretty flat, with less of a potential for an uptrend I am seeing,” said one US Midwest long steel insider. “Things are maybe cooling off a little in the situation with Iran.”
In the import wire rod mesh market, pricing for DDP loaded truck material vicinity Houston remained flat following this past week’s $0.50/cwt., move higher to $47.50-50.00/cwt., ($950-980/nt or $1,047-1,080/mt).
Weekly pricing remained steady for still another week in the import rebar market owing to low import competition, the result of continued 50 percent import tariffs and plentiful domestic supply availability, insiders said. US Gulf Coast import rebar on a loaded truck basis remains steady at $46.00-47.00/cwt., ($920-940/nt or $1,014-1,036/mt), up from $45.50-46.50/cwt., ($910-930/nt or $1,003-1,025/mt) several weeks earlier.
US East Coast import rebar pricing on a loaded truck basis also remained stable for yet another week at $46.50-47.50/cwt., ($930-950/nt or $1,025-1,047/mt), though up from $46.00-47.00/cwt., ($920-940/nt or $1,014-1,036/mt) one month earlier, as oil prices surged in reaction to supply-related jitters in the Middle East.
High oil prices and elevated insurance risks have cause many steel suppliers, both domestic and import, to raise finished steel prices to cover additional fixed costs, estimated by some as high as 40 percent higher than before hostilities with Iran began in late February.
Insiders also are keeping an eye on a potential new round of global Section 301 investigations that could result in additional tariffs and possible duties and quotas for Vietnamese wire rod as well as other global steel imports bound for the US.
The outcome of the new Section 301 investigations announced by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on May 29 is important because the US is one of the top five importers of wire rod and related long products from Vietnam at current, especially following the June 2025 doubling of steel import tariffs on Canada and Mexico to 50 percent.
In the US domestic long steel market, pricing remained steady for another week, with domestic rebar assessed unchanged at $47.00-48.00/cwt., ($940-960/nt or $1,036-1,058/mt), as insiders said US mills remain reluctant to raise prices for fear that additional price increases would encourage a surge in steel imports, undercutting current US mills' domestic market share, where many now operate in excess of 80 percent of capacity.
