Rebar prices kept unchanged in Mexico through October, although producers continue to be assertive about hiking prices, sources in the domestic market said.
Reported offers, bids and deals led Platts to maintain its Mexican domestic rebar assessment static at Peso 9,300-9,500/mt ($564-$576/mt) delivered, excluding the mandatory VAT tax for grade R42 product.
"It's difficult to materialize [a price hike], because demand didn't pick up as it should have," said a producer source who confirmed that most of negotiations are close to the Peso 9,300/mt level.
"But it won't take so long to increase again," he added, without being able to provide a date or new price level.
The change in Mexican town halls in early October contributed to the sluggish demand, a distributor said. "It's a governments' transition period, so all public investments are stopped right now," he said, reporting inquiries to buy at Peso 9,200-9,300/mt. "If you order more than 1,000 mt, you can get lower prices," the source added.
"Distributors will always say the market is weak, but the dynamic changed," argued a second mill source. "In the past, volumes [for construction] used to be huge. Now, volumes are medium, but liquid and stable. There is demand in Mexico," he stressed, adding that his company will not step back on its Peso 9,800-9,900/mt prices -- a level which steelmakers have been targeting all over the year with little success.
A second distributor who negotiates mostly with a specific longs producer received varied offers "as they are saying a different value each day, we are currently handling four values from them [between] Peso 9,000/mt [and] Peso 9,400/mt," she said. "The pick up [in rebar use] we are expecting didn't come, so there is no room for increasing prices," she said, adding that wire rod prices were hiked by 5-7% to Peso 8,500-9,000/mt.
A third distributor reportedly purchased around 1,000-1,500/mt through different orders in October at Peso 9,200-9,300/mt. "Mills say it will rise, but we don't care, there is no way -- there are still a lot of material at low prices available," he said.
Mexico's domestic rebar suppliers include Deacero, Ternium, Simec, Talleres y Aceros, Gerdau Corsa and ArcelorMittal.
