The US Southeast rebar market has remained strikingly quiet in the wake of the Fourth of July holiday as mills continue to wait for scrap prices to settle, market sources said Wednesday.
"It's always quiet after a holiday, but it has been extraordinarily quiet in last two days," said a Southeast distributor. "I think a lot of people are really just trying to get some bearing on where the market is."
Domestic rebar prices have continued to hold steady in the Southeast this week as mills look to see where scrap settles during the July buy week, a fabricator in the region said. In early trading Wednesday, one Southeast mill was purchasing shredded down $20/lt, prime grades at sideways to down $10/lt and cut grades down $10-$15/lt. However, trading activity was slow to develop in the region, with the largest EAF group yet to issue firm offers to suppliers.
"I don't think there's a whole lot of upward momentum for rebar if scrap slides, but for now the mills are hanging to current [rebar] prices in hopes they will stay," the fabricator said.
Platts on Wednesday maintained its daily US Southeast rebar assessment at $535-$550/st ex-works.
Mills seem more willing to cut more aggressive deals in order to secure large bookings, the fabricator said, but noted that non-residential construction demand for rebar in the region remains less than robust.
"There is work, but I don't see any real change in demand coming as far as more construction starting," he said.
The US imported rebar market remains cloudy, the distributor said. Buying out of Turkey has remained light in recent weeks and no new transactions were reported out of Turkey Wednesday as the market remained silent for the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
"You hear import prices will be up when Turkey's back in the market and then in the next sentence you hear they will be down," he said. "Right now it seems like a lot of speculation."
Platts on Wednesday maintained its US imported rebar assessment at $377-$386/st CIF Houston.
