US domestic, import rebar prices flat; market sees slow bid-letting

Prices for steel reinforcing bar in the United States again held steady week on week, with domestic mills still generally collecting the majority of their price increases announced in early September.

Market participants said that last month's $40-per-ton ($2-per-cwt) price increase from US mills so far has resulted in transaction prices that are $12-35 per short ton ($0.60-1.75 per hundredweight) higher. With scrap costs leveling out and import volumes ebbing, the rebar market is enjoying a period of equilibrium, according to producers and buyers.     
"The mills are probably looking at the differential between the scrap and the rebar price, and they see there is enough differential," one trading source said. "And if they keep the price the same, it will stop the imports from coming in."

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