Special bar quality (SBQ) steel prices in the United States were flat across the cold-finished and hot-rolled grades during March, with market participants reporting continued soft demand offsetting rising ferrous scrap costs amid mounting concerns over the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
On the hot-rolled side, Fastmarkets' monthly assessment for steel bar hot-rolled special bar quality (SBQ) 1-inch round 1000 series (carbon), fob mill US was at $34.50 per hundredweight ($690 per short ton) on Friday March 13, unchanged from last month but down by 20.7% from $43.50 per cwt at this time last year.On the cold-finished side, Fastmarkets' assessment for steel bar cold-finished 1-inch round 1018 (carbon), fob mill US stood at $54.50 per cwt on Friday, stable compared with February but down by 12.1% from $62 per cwt in March 2019.Fastmarkets understands SBQ producers usually treat fluctuations in ferrous scrap prices as a pass-through to buyers....