The base price for hot-rolled special bar quality (SBQ) steel in the United States edged up this month while that for cold-finished SBQ remained flat, but market participants expect higher surcharges to push up prices for all SBQ products starting January 1, 2021.
On the hot-rolled side of the market, Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for steel bar hot-rolled special bar quality 1-inch round 1000 series (carbon), fob mill US rose to $33.25 per hundredweight ($665 per short ton) on Friday December 18, up by 3.91% from the prior month's $32 per cwt but down by 2.21% from $34 per cwt in December 2019.On the cold-finished side, Fastmarkets' assessment for steel bar cold-finished 1-inch round 1018 (carbon), fob mill US was $49.75 per cwt ($995 per ton) on December 18, unchanged since mid-September but down by 7.0% from $53.50 per cwt in December 2019.While some SBQ producers work off...