Despite a continuous push over the last several weeks to get the lowest US domestic spot prices closer to the $40.00 cwt. ($800/nt or $882/mt) ex-mill level, US rebar mills lost much of their leverage last week after US Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced an investigation into “illegitimate profiteering” within the US domestic steel market. Sources say plans for near-term price increases have been scrapped, and even recent region-specific gains are at risk of backtracking.
And with Turkish rebar import offers still comfortably below the $40.00 cwt. (DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports) level, which includes Section 232 tariffs and pre-existing AD/CVD duties, and decent levels of newly-arriving rebar imports (preliminary census data show 149,301 mt arriving in May, nearly twice the amount that arrived in May 2017), US rebar buyers have options aside from higher-priced domestic material.
US domestic rebar spot prices are level for now, but some sources speculate that mills might “slowly walk back” spot prices to avoid the appearance of “profiteering,” but other source say the damage is already done. “One look at any price graph from January to today will tell the DOC all it needs to know,” one source said, adding that spot prices could remain static through the summer as a result. For now, US domestic rebar offers to large distributors are still hovering around $39.50 cwt. ($790/nt or $871/mt) ex-mill, while small to medium-sized customers are paying closer to $41.50-$42.50 cwt. ($830-$850/nt or $915-$937/mt) ex-mill.