The US has licenses to import rebar from Poland for the first time since 2006, an analysis of US Department of Commerce data updated Tuesday and Platts data showed.
There are 2,017 mt of rebar from Poland licensed for import, representing 1.6% of the 124,168 mt licensed so far for October, Commerce data showed.
The US last imported Polish rebar in April 2006. The 117 mt imported that month was the only rebar imported from Poland to the US since 2004. In 2004, the US imported 6,625 mt of Polish rebar.
Two traders said on Tuesday that the imports are unusual, and one noted that the quantity is too large to be a trial. Neither could say whether Poland would be a viable supplier in the US market, especially while Turkish material remains the cheapest and most plentiful imported rebar in the US market.
Turkish rebar represented 76.5% of all the imported rebar licensed for October.
