US import rebar and wire rod pricing crept higher this week ahead of what’s expected to be a slow trading period next week as market participants secured supply ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 28, market insiders told SteelOrbis this week.
Insiders noted somewhat more spirited import market activity, they say, partly the result of the US holiday and less so the result of recent wire rod price increases from Irving, Texas-based Commercial Metals Company (CMC) and more recently from Nucor, South Carolina, with the latter offering price protected orders if shipped no later than Nov. 30. The mill price increases, insiders say, come mostly as a result of reduced US production capacity with Liberty Steel remaining offline.
Market insiders contend the combination of the Liberty shutdown, with recent mill price increases is making imported wire rod and rebar products more price competitive with domestic supply. Some expect pricing to continue to creep higher through the end of the year, especially since US steel scrap prices continue to remain strong, they said.
This week’s assessment follows mostly steady pricing during the week of Nov. 11, as improved market sentiment was noted following the successful US presidential win for Donald Trump. And while sentiment was improved, demand remained somewhat lackluster even as is was reported that domestic wire and wire rod supplies would remain reduced as a result of Liberty Steel’s wire and wire rod production likely remaining offline until at least March 2025 pending the acceptance of certain “financial arrangements.”
This week, insiders told SteelOrbis that uncertainty remains high regarding Liberty’s anticipated March 2025 return, with some hinting the likelihood that the 700,000 ton plant might be closed permanently, noting recent activity with Liberty’s parent company, UK-based GFG Alliance.
GFG Alliance recently has begun selling off US assets with the sale of its Engineered Wire Products Inc., division (EWP) to Mount Airy, North Carolina-based Insteel Industries Inc. (IIIN) for $70 million on Oct. 21. On Nov. 18, Insteel announced the closure of its recently-acquired Warren, Ohio-based wire reinforcing production facility, “given the low capacity utilization levels and the dim prospects for improvement,” said president and ceo H.O. Woltz III, in a press release.
Calls to Liberty by SteelOrbis regarding an updated plant status remain unreturned, with most informational updates coming from multiple long steel market contacts.
“Liberty is expected to be out until March, however, in the meantime, they are trying to put financing together,” commented one Midwest rebar market insider. “They are out there looking for capital, because their CEO wants to sell the company,” he said. “They have been having financial troubles for years,” he added. “Nobody really knows whether they will be back in March. At best, there seems to be much skepticism out there, because we’re hearing that they’ve been selling assets in order to pay workers in the UK, and that as soon as the recent sale (of EWP) went through, their workers were paid.”
In the weekly long steel import markets, US Gulf Coast and US East Coast rebar on a loaded truck basis is discussed at $36.50-37.50/cwt., on a delivered to customer basis, ($730-750/nt or $805-827/mt), up $0.75/cwt., or $15/nt ($16.53/mt) from $36.00-36.50/cwt., ($720-730/nt or $794-805/mt) reported to SteelOrbis one week earlier.
Import rebar pricing offers from Egypt were also reported higher on the week, with most noted at $36.50-$37.50/cwt., ($730-750/nt or $805-827/mt), up from $36.50-$37.00/cwt., ($730-740/nt or $805-815/mt) seven days earlier. Insiders noted a lack of offers from Algeria this week, even as import prices rose due to stiff competition for market share from aggressive US domestic mills, they said. No new import offers from Turkey were noted this week, with the last delivered to customer US Gulf Coast offers heard “noncompetitive” at $38/cwt., ($760/nt or $838/mt), market insiders said.
Delivered rebar from Mexico vicinity Houston, Texas, is discussed steady week to week at $37.00-38.00/nt ($740-760/nt or $816-838/mt), compared with earlier assessments three weeks ago at $36.00-37.00/cwt., ($720-740/nt or $794-816/mt). Insiders expect pricing could move higher near term as a result of improved market sentiment following the US presidential election. “While US producers continue to compete with each other for market share, people are more optimistic with the republican party winning the election,” one long steel market insider told SteelOrbis.
In the wire rod and mesh segment, imported wire rod and mesh on a DDP loaded truck basis US Gulf Coast are reported steady to a bit higher versus seven days ago at $37.00-$38.00/cwt., ($740-760/nt or $816-838/mt), although activity remains muted with most sales reported to domestic suppliers offering lower lead times and reduced market risk versus imports, insiders say.