Prices for US domestic and imported merchant bar products both held steady month on month, due to stable market conditions and the Section 232 tariffs largely excluding offshore bars from the US market.
American Metal Market's latest assessment for US domestic 2 x 2 x 1/4 -inch angle merchant bar remained at $38.05 per hundredweight ($761 per short ton) on Friday July 2, where the price landed after US mills announced increases of $30 per ton ($1.50 per cwt) in early June.Domestic prices seen holding flat through summer, supply tightnessThe pricing outlook for the remainder of the summer months will likely be flat, a distributor source based in the South predicted, calling last month's increases the "the last one for a little while."Scrap prices would have to increase by $30 per ton in order to justify another hike in the near term, he said. Additionally, the threat from US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to investigate industry participants for wrongly "profiteering" from Section 232 tariffs on imported steel might have chilled some mills' interest...