Wednesday, March 21, 2007

US Steel Mills increase rebar prices

According to Metals Place  .

Major producers of steel reinforcing bars (rebar) in the US have announced a series of price increases for April deliveries. Nucor led the way, informing its customers last week that it would raise prices by $55/st for rebar, merchant bars and structural products, effective with shipments beginning April 1, 2007. Other producers, including Gerdau Ameristeel, Commercial Metals and Border Steel informed their customers of similar price hikes over the past few days.

As a result of these domestic price announcements and rising prices being offered for import deliveries, the Platts assessment for rebar, EXW (ex-works) US Southeast was increased $25/st on Tuesday to a midpoint of $604/st. The import price assessment, CIF Houston, was also increased by $25/st to a midpoint of $600/st.

The price announcements for rebar were mainly based on sharply higher prices of scrap metal, the primary raw material for rebar and other structural products. The $55 increase set by Nucor and other majors was slightly higher than expected, but reflects the tremendous uplift in scrap prices over the past six months.

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