US merchant bar market - Domestics trending up, imports stable

If Nucor strictly follows the direction of strong demand and raising raw materials costs, we should see an increase in domestic pricing for merchant bars very soon. Market leader Nucor will make their June pricing announcement any day now, and sustained demand from the housing sector has most market watchers anticipating that we will see an increase in Nucor's base price for merchant bar orders with the other domestic producers following suit. Rising raw material and production costs (scrap, fuel) will also boost pricing in June, pushing up surcharges. It is possible that Nucor will increase both their base price and their Raw Material Surcharge (RMS), however, there is always a slight chance that they will not; in the past Nucor has been known to keep prices stable to deflect customers from buying lower-priced imports. For now, domestic merchant bar prices remain at a range of from $28.95 cwt. to $36.95 cwt. ($638 /mt to $815 /mt or $579 /nt to $739 /nt), depending on size, shape, and thickness. Most sizes are on the lower end of the pricing spectrum, making most imports prohibitive. Only small sections such as 1/8 and 3/16, flats, and small angles are sold at a huge premium where we see most small sections are imported. While the pricing trend is up for domestic merchant bars, such is not the case for imports. Prices are starting to settle down, as cheaper priced Taiwanese offers are eating up West Coast business, taking market share away from major import source Turkey. Higher priced Turkish offers are no longer able to find much acceptance. The pricing trend for import merchant bar is flat, at least for now. In the last two weeks, traders' offers have weakened by approximately $0.50 cwt. ($11 /mt or $10 /nt). Turkish offers now range from $28.50 cwt. to $29.50 cwt. ($628 /mt to $650 /mt or $570 /nt to $590 /nt) FOB loaded truck in US Gulf ports, and offers from Taiwan range from $28.00 cwt. to $29.00 cwt. ($617 /mt to $639 /mt or $560 /nt to $580 /nt) ex-dock Los Angeles.