Although sources maintain that Turkish rebar offers to the US “can’t go too low, considering trade case ramifications,” there is still considerable pressure on offers to trend downward. This week, the US import rebar market has seen another slight drop in traders’ prices to US customers, by about $0.25 cwt. ($5/nt or $5.50/mt).
Imported rebar in the US domestic market from Turkey is now in the range of $24.00-$25.00 cwt. ($480-$500/nt or $529-$550/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports.
The situation in the US domestic rebar market is adding to the import pressure, sources say, noting that Nucor’s decision late last week to rescind the $1.25 cwt. ($25/nt or $28/mt) price increase announced in early March has removed much of the leverage traders had to keep import offers afloat. Positions ordered when Turkish rebar was about $30-$50/mt less on the CFR level are still flooding into US ports, and some traders report that eliminating position inventory is a priority over booking new orders at the moment.
According to the latest data from the US Department of Commerce, the US registered 229,237 mt in rebar import permits in March (as of March 28), with Turkey alone responsible for 192,314 mt. However, those levels are on par with March 2016 levels: total US rebar imports that month reached 222,188 mt, while Turkish rebar comprised 200,586 mt of the total.