The US rebar market has been reacting mostly positively to the $20/nt price increase set by Nucor three weeks ago, and domestic offers have increased slightly as a result.
Domestic rebar offers have increased, on average, by $0.50 cwt. ($11 /mt or $10 /nt) and now range from $24.50 cwt. to $25.00 cwt. ($540 /mt to $551 /mt or $490 /nt to $500 /nt) ex-mill. After Nucor’s $20 /nt ($1.00 cwt. or $22 /mt) price increase, several distributors followed Nucor’s lead by raising their prices. Still, market prices have not risen by the full $20/nt.
Demand in the domestic rebar market has shown a very slight increase in recent weeks, but steel companies are still struggling to keep their numbers firm as the overall conditions continue to be depressed. While the mills have been insisting on higher numbers, some distributors continue to sell at below replacement cost, i.e. $24.00 cwt. ($529 /mt or $480 /nt). In the meantime, inventories continue emptying and market players are becoming more optimistic that conditions will soon start improving, as the US scrap market seems to have stabilized as well. The fact that there hasn't been any price deterioration for US rebar in many weeks likely indicates that the market has finally touched the waited-for bottom, and that the price trend is now slowly turning up.
On the import side, the Turkish mills are once again asking for higher prices due to higher scrap cost and better bookings to other markets. As a result, Turkish rebar offers for the US have increased by $0.50 cwt. ($11 /mt or $10 /nt), recuperating the same drop they had three weeks ago. In consequence, Turkish offers now range at about $23.50 cwt to $24.50 cwt ($518/ mt to $540/ mt or $470 /nt to $490 /nt) duty-paid, FOB loaded truck in US Gulf ports. The trend for Turkish imports has turned from slightly down to neutral, as the international rebar markets seem to be bottoming as well.
Meanwhile, Mexican offers continue ranging from $23.00 cwt. to $24.00 cwt. ($507 /mt to $529 /mt or $460/nt to $480 /nt) delivered to Houston. However, as offers under $23.00 cwt. have been reported, their trend continues to be slightly down.