US domestic rebar prices fell on continued scant spot market demand and lower December shredded scrap pricing, while wire rod prices continued marginally higher this week, as the continued shutdown at Liberty Steel’s wire rod plant in Illinois continues to reduce domestic supply availability, market insiders told SteelOrbis this week.
In the weekly rebar spot markets, insiders report minimal weekly demand with domestic supply on an FOB mill basis assessed at $35.00-36.00/cwt. ($700-720/nt or $771.62-793.67/mt), or on average $35.50/cwt. ($710/nt or $782.64/mt). This compared with $37.00-38.00/cwt. ($740-760/nt or $815.71-837.76/mt) seven days ago. Given continuing low finished steel demand, some market insiders don’t expect much recovery in local rebar markets until potentially February, ahead of the 2025 spring construction season.
“It’s December, it’s winter and we’re in the two worse months of the year,” said one US East Coast rebar dealer, explaining the likely reasoning behind this week’s rebar price decline. “The recent CMC rebar price increase that failed to stick in the spot markets had a positive effect on pricing whether intended or not,” he added. “It helped stop the price erosion, so now we are bouncing around on the bottom, with prices low enough for the mills to make some money but high enough to keep imports at bay.”
Recent December shredded scrap pricing in Chicago, a key metric for spot market rebar pricing, is also causing rebar prices to flounder, insiders said. Pricing is reported down $10/gt ($10/mt) from November settle levels at $375-380/gt ($381-386/mt), scrap insiders told SteelOrbis. Insiders said mills sought as much as $20/gt discounts to November for shredded, though suppliers could only accommodate $10/gt discounts because of continued reports of low inventory levels.
In the domestic wire rod market, most transactions were reported this week at $39.50-40.50/cwt. ($790-810/nt or $870.83-892.88/mt), or an average of $40.00/cwt. ($800/nt or $881.85/mt), up from $39.50-40.00/cwt. ($790-800/nt or $870.83-881.85/mt), or an average of $39.75/cwt. (795$/nt or $876/mt) seven days earlier.
“The wire rod market is strong because of the uncertainty of supply due to Liberty Steel. There is a lot of skepticism surrounding their return,” a SteelOrbis insider remarked.