US steelmaker Nucor said late Tuesday that it is raising rebar prices by $10/st. The increase is half that announced Friday by competitor Gerdau Long Steel North America, raising questions in the market about whether the earlier increase will stick, sources said.
Nucor in letters to customers said that confirmed orders by the end of Tuesday would be excluded from the price increase if shipped by November 30. The price hike follows Gerdau on Friday said it was raising prices for rebar, beams and merchant products by $20/st. While Nucor only raised rebar prices by $10/st, it also lifted merchant bar prices $20/st, matching Gerdau's hike.
Steel Dynamics's Roanoke Bar Division in Virginia, which produces rebar and merchant bar, also announced $20/st price increases for "all products" in a Monday letter to customers. The company guaranteed orders confirmed on Tuesday as long as the products shipped by November 20. But on Wednesday, , SDI reduced its rebar price increase to $10/st in line with Nucor's move.
A Midwestern rebar buyer said he believes Nucor's price increase was designed to separate the producer from Gerdau and to lessen the shock of consecutive increases. The recent round of rebar price moves followed a $10/st increase announced by major domestic mills in mid-October.
"They're tempering the increase to not have a correction come December," he said. "I think the market was bracing for more and probably could have taken more."
With mills paying higher scrap costs, the buyer said he's expecting more increases before the end of the year.
US ferrous shredded scrap purchases delivered to Midwest mills have taken place this week at prices $25-30/lt higher than in early October.
