US domestic merchant bar prices have risen after early June mill hikes, while import merchant bar prices held steady due to a lack of market activity following the implementation of Section 232 tariffs on steel imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
American Metal Market's latest price assessment for US domestic 2x2x 1/4 angle merchant bar rose to $38.05 per hundredweight ($761 per short ton) on Friday June 29, up 4.1% from the previous price of $36.55 per cwt ($731 per ton).Steelmakers Nucor, Gerdau, Steel Dynamics Inc and the Bayou Steel Group raised merchant bar prices by $30 per ton ($1.50 per cwt) in early June.Domestic supply short, boosting US millsSupplies for domestic merchant bar grades have tightened in the wake of the Section 232 tariffs, several industry participants told American Metal Market. "Six months ago, 10 items might be available with 80-100% [certainty], but now it's 50-60%," a West Coast distributor said, crediting trade and...