Nucor holds on rebar, but downtrend seen

May 09, 2012 | 04:17 PM | Michael Cowden

Tags  rebar, merchant bar, structural products, Nucor, construction, infrastructure, steel imports, Michael Cowden

TORONTO — Reinforcing bar prices appeared to be on shaky ground Wednesday after Nucor Corp. said it would hold tags steady for the third consecutive month, with some sources indicating the market is set to trend downward.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said in a letter to customers dated Tuesday that it plans to keep transaction prices on concrete reinforcing bar, merchant bar and structural products unchanged for June shipments.

Other mills are expected to follow Nucor, market sources said, although some noted that those mills might not make an announcement, given that there had been no official price change.

Market sources generally agree that a stable trend in scrap pricing is responsible for the continued flat rebar tags. However, some also said domestic mills have been cutting deals, partially in response to imports but mostly due to weaker domestic demand.

Domestic prices are being quoted in a wide range of $620 to $760 per ton ($31 to $38 per hundredweight), with some market sources contending that $700 per ton ($35 per cwt) had been offered to them by major domestic mills for just a single truckload.....