US import rebar and wire rod pricing was mixed this week, as Irving, Texas-based Commercial Metals Company (CMC) announced a rebar price increase on October 31, while wire and rod production from Liberty Steel’s plant in Peoria, Illinois remains offline, market insiders told SteelOrbis this week.
Regarding Liberty Steel’s ongoing status, no new announcements on a likely restart date were available from the markets this week, aside from the unit remains shut for now. As of press time, Liberty Steel remains unresponsive to multiple inquiries by SteelOrbis regarding an updated plant status as we head into the second week of November.
Market insiders said recently that the expected loss of dedicated wire rod capacity was causing domestic wire rod suppliers to raise prices, thus, making imported wire rod and eventually, rebar products more price competitive, they said. Discounting by US mills was causing import pricing to slip as sellers tried to remain competitive, they said.
As domestic long steel prices have been steady to up on the Liberty Steel situation, market insiders said this week that they expected a similar price increase from competitor Nucor concerning rebar pricing, though no new announcement was forthcoming from the producer at press time, following its last $20/ton wire rod price increase letter to customers dated October 16.
“The CMC domestic rebar price increase of $30/ton ($1.50/cwt.) has been challenging, with most waiting to see if there’s also an increase from Nucor coming,” said one Texas-based long steel importer. “In the West, long prices were steady, while there was an increase in Texas this week. From an import perspective, trading remains limited with domestic producers competing amongst themselves by discounting to maintain market share.”
Another insider thought the CMC price increase was partly a move by the mill to trim aggressive mill discounting programs recently reported to SteelOrbis. “The CMC price increase kind of came as a surprise, and the announcement basically put a stop to the ‘super discounting’ that had been going on,” he said. “Even so, for imports, the US price is still close enough to the delivered price of imports to keep much imported material from coming through.”
Insiders claim that imported rebar and wire rod purchased today will not arrive at US customers until February or March 2025, and that “that kind of long lead times scares many away from imports.”
“Even though US prices have risen recently, many import suppliers are still unable to pass on a slight price increase to US consumers,” the rebar insider said. “We’re still seeing $36.00-36.50/cwt. for import rebar and $36.00-37.00/cwt. delivered to customers for imported wire rod. US domestic prices are still low enough to keep imports out.”
Imported wire rod mesh on a DDP loaded truck basis US Gulf Coast is reported at unchanged versus seven days ago at $37.00/cwt. ($740/nt or $816/mt), though up from $35.75/cwt. ($715/nt or $788/mt) two weeks ago.
On the import rebar front, prices declined slightly in reaction to continued mill discounting insiders said. Supplies to the US Gulf Coast on a loaded truck basis are discussed at $36.00-36.50/cwt. ($720-730/nt or $794-805/mt), versus last week’s $36.75-37.50/cwt. ($735-750/nt or $810-827/mt) range. Trading continues to be reported as “light” for US East Coast import rebar with ranges reported at $36.00-36.50/nt ($720-730/nt or $794-805/mt), versus last week’s $36.75-37.25/cwt. reported range.
Import rebar prices from Egypt and Algeria are also slightly less on the week at $37.00/cwt. ($740/nt or $816/mt), versus week ago reports at $37.00-38.00/cwt. ($740-760/nt or $816-838/mt). Import rebar fromTurkey is talked higher at $38/cwt. ($760/nt or $838/mt), versus last week’s flat pricing at $36.75/cwt. ($735/nt or $810/mt), market insiders said.
Delivered rebar from Mexico vicinity Houston, Texas, is discussed slightly higher at $37.00-38.00/nt ($740-760/nt or $816-838/mt), compared with last week’s $36.00-37.00/cwt. ($720-740/nt or $794-816/mt) range.