Import rebar prices in the United States have edged higher since mid-January, but domestic prices are flat from three weeks ago while supply appears tight following an accepted $40-per-ton increase, market participants said.
American Metal Market's assessment for import rebar cfr Houston narrowed up to $572-576 per ton from $562-576 per ton on January 17. Meanwhile, the fob mill assessment for domestic rebar has held at $31-32 per hundredweight ($620-640 per ton) since gaining $2 per cwt in mid-January. That's up $3 per cwt since the start of the year and up some $4 per cwt from a year ago, after mills started raising prices in earnest in December. Fabricators and distributors put domestic prices anywhere from $30-32 per cwt, although most agreed prices were flat versus two weeks ago and that the latest $40-per-ton hike was accepted without resistance.Rebar prices are "demand-driven at this point," one midwestern fabricator said, noting that flat February scrap pricing and broadly stable import prices weren't primary price factors lately. He bought rebar recently "out of necessity" for new construction jobs, despite having...