US Southeast rebar prices have softened as buyers Tuesday said tepid demand had mills offering more aggressive pricing to secure orders.
"The mills in the past couple of weeks have stepped back up and seem pressured to sell," a fabricator in the region said. Offers from domestic mills were heard in the range of $515-$540/st ex-works Tuesday, with some mills offering as low as $500/st to secure large orders, sources said.
S&P Global Platts on Tuesday lowered its daily US Southeast rebar assessment to $515-$540/st ex-works, down from $530-$550/st.
Commercial Metals Co. last week announced a $25/st increase on rebar at its Arizona Mill and Gerdau Long Steel North America followed with a $20/st increase at its Midlothian, Texas, mill, however no other mills were heard to have raised prices, including other owned by CMC and Gerdau.
The mills seem anxious to move rebar prices higher, but current demand is not likely to support higher pricing on its own, another fabricator in the region said.
However, concerns over the Department of Commerce's ongoing Section 232 investigation have helped to slow import buying, sources said. Recently, foreign producers have not been offering to be the importer of record, which has shifted the unknown risk on to the shoulders of the buyer, making foreign bar less appealing.
"With the uncertainty regarding the 232 investigation, all importers of record are being cautious and not offering new shipments," a distributor in the region said.
If the outcome of the 232 investigation further limits import buying it may help US mills to push domestic rebar prices back up, the second fabricator said.
