US domestic rebar and wire rod prices were steady this week, following a steady to lower assessment one week earlier, as increased output from new productive capacity appears to have been offset by lower short-term output from US bar mills conducting March-April spring maintenance operations, market insiders told SteelOrbis.
While short-term supply and demand appear to be fairly well balanced this week, insiders caution that weekly spot markets still remain fairly tight overall, owing to continued 50 percent steel imports tariffs enacted by US president Trump on June 4, 2025. As a result of low imports -recently estimated in Jan-Feb down by 38 percent versus year-ago levels- and steady to growing demand for finished steel as the spring construction season gets underway, US steel plants reported crossing the 80 percent installed capacity level for the first time since August 2024.
On the supply side, industry reports made available to SteelOrbis indicate a minimum of 28 days of combined rebar and wire rod production are scheduled to be offline for March-April maintenance operations. Market reports of two mills down for maintenance in Texas “simultaneously” were found to be inaccurate. Only Commercial Metal's Company's (CMC) 943,000 per year Seguin mini-mill was fully expected to be offline for maintenance for seven days in April.
In the domestic rebar market, Midwest rebar on an FOB mill basis sold on average $46.00-47.00/cwt., ($920-940/nt or $1,014-1,036/mt) stable to week-ago levels, though still off $0.50/cwt., from two weeks earlier, when reports of boosted output from Nucor, Lexington, as well as Hybar Steel in Arkansas made local supply more plentiful.
In the absence of local industry news, rebar insiders told SteelOrbis the big story this week was mill price increases on the US West Coast. Reports indicate that Nucor and CMC increased local rebar prices by $50/nt ($55/mt), to $46.00-47.00/nt ($980-1,000/nt of $1,080-1,102/mt), bringing local West Coast rebar price levels on par with local pricing at the US Gulf Coast.
“Recently we saw the West Coast rebar markets priced cheaper than Texas,” quipped one Midwest rebar insider. “Now, Nucor and CMC have straightened that situation out by raising their local prices there.”
“The big story this week was rebar pricing up $50 per ton on the US West Coast,” said one Midwest long steel trader. “Nucor started the price increase and then CMC followed.”
In addition to the West Coast rebar price increases this week, insiders reported local $60/nt price increases for engineered SBQ steel by Nucor, Gerdau Steel, and Charter Steel, though no new price increase announcements could be found on steel company websites.
In the domestic wire rod markets, insiders told SteelOrbis prices remained stable for a sixth week at $49.00-50.00/cwt., ($980-1,000/nt or $1,080-1,102/mt), though reports of “supply tightness” persist as supply from Peoria, Illinois-based Liberty Steel’s 700,000-ton wire and rod plant appears to remain somewhat limited, they said.
