US domestic rebar and wire rod prices moved higher this week , even as spot market demand remains limited, as supplies are expected to remain reduced as a result of a now confirmed outage at Liberty Steel’s wire and wire rod steel plant in Peoria, Illinois, market insiders told SteelOrbis this week.
Independent Steel Workers’ Alliance President Penny Wright confirmed in a news report that the 700,000 ton per year steel making facility will be shut from December 6 to “early February.” Wright said the decision to shut the facility was based on current steel market challenges, including “the influx of lower-priced imports.”
“The wire mill staff will be retained on furlough during this period and the organization plans to restart as the market improves, with a projected restart of early February,” she said in the news report. A total of 540 employees are affected as a result of the plant closure, she said.
“Even though demand remains limited at this point in the year, as a result of the Liberty outage, the trend is up for wire rod and rebar,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
In the weekly rebar spot markets, domestic supply on an FOB mill basis is assessed with most transactions noted at $37.00-38.00/cwt. ($740-760/nt or $815.71-837.76/mt), on average $37.50/cwt. ($750/nt or $827/mt), up from seven days ago.
“While pricing from the mills hasn’t changed much, wire rod supply is tighter for sure,” the insider said.
In the domestic wire rod market, most transactions were reported this week at $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).
Market insiders don’t expect much change in finished steel prices in the near term as US steel scrap prices for December are forecast to settle at sideways values to November, scrap market contacts told SteelOrbis. At last report, Chicago shredded scrap for November settled at $385-390/gt ($391-396/mt), up $13/gt from October.