Special bar quality (SBQ) steel prices in the United States moved sideways across cold-finished and hot-rolled grades this month despite higher ferrous scrap prices due to reports of discounting and overall weak demand.
Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel bar hot-rolled special bar quality (SBQ) 1-inch round 1000 series (carbon), fob mill US stood at $34 per hundredweight ($680 per ton) on Friday November 8, flat versus the previous month but down by 26.9% from $46.50 per cwt at this time last year. Fastmarkets price assessment for steel bar cold-finished 1-inch round 1018 (carbon), fob mill US was $53.50 per cwt on Friday, unchanged from October but 18.3% lower than $65.50 per cwt in November 2018. Although...