As major stock-ups from December and January purchases dwindle, US domestic rebar spot prices have finally reached mill asking prices.
In anticipation of early-2011 price increases, domestic rebar distributors stocked up substantially in December and January. Now that most of that lower-priced material is out of the market, US mills are finally seeing spot prices firmed up to official asking prices. Currently, most spot prices are in the range of $36.00-$37.00 cwt. ($794-$816/mt or $720-$740/nt) ex-mill, which is a $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) increase from last week, and finally reflective of the $4.25 cwt. ($94/mt or $85/nt) total price increase announced in early January.
However, SteelOrbis has learned that shipments of imported rebar will soon arrive with tags under $30.00 cwt. ($661/mt or $600/nt) duty paid FOB loaded truck in US East Coast ports from Turkey. While this could lead to some significant spot deals far below domestic offerings, there is also a chance that import buyers will take advantage of the slowly uptrending market and use the opportunity to stretch profit margins a little.
New offers of rebar from Turkey, on the other hand, are still in the range of $34.50-$35.50 cwt. ($761-$782/mt or $690-$710/nt) duty paid FOB loaded truck in US Gulf ports. However, the import trend could rise--at the end of last week, scrap prices in the local Turkish market increased, which could soon be reflected in rebar prices as long as demand remains steady.
Offers from south of the border, which saw a drop in the lower end of the price range last week, have been quiet since, with no new Mexican prices heard other than the previously reported range of $32.00-$34.00 cwt. ($705-$750/mt or $640-$680/nt) duty paid FOB delivered to US border states.