Steel reinforcing bar prices in the United States have fallen to pre-Section 232 levels, with import prices also declining due to fresh offers from Europe.
Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel rebar, fob mill US, widened downward to $31.50-32.50 per hundredweight ($630-650 per short ton) on Wednesday July 17 from $32-32.50 per cwt two weeks earlier, with the price also down by 9.9% from $35-36 per cwt one year ago. The latest assessment puts the US rebar price firmly below the $32-33-per-cwt range recorded in late February 2018, ahead of the announcement of the Section 232 tariffs on March 1, 2018. Fastmarkets' assessment for steel rebar, import, cfr Houston, slipped to $630-640 per ton on July 17 from $640-660 per ton previously.Availability is not an issue for the most part, sources said. "[There is] plenty of bar available; no shortage of domestic supply," one rebar consumer said. US marketThe decline in domestic rebar prices stems from seasonally weak demand and US mills...