Rebar and wire rod markets have been stable and almost boring in May. Mills try to maintain their prices with little adjustments for large customers. Demand has been steady but slightly decreasing as time goes on as a result of inflation-reducing measures such as high interest rates. It could have been a lot worse if the country were not going through a green energy transformation and infrastructure spending by the big federal bills.
However, mills have the capacity to produce more but can't sell all they can produce. The real fight is among themselves but often citing imports for their softer prices.
The steady domestic pricing may change this month with another scrap decrease looming. If it turns out to be a minor decrease, perhaps up to $20 per ton, mills will try to keep their pricing the same.
However, some talk is about a larger decrease. In that case, mills will have tremendous pressure to reduce their pricing, perhaps even officially so.
Recently, flat-rolled mills adapted a transparent pricing policy with hot rolled coil pricing. Nucor's published HRC pricing is now $780/short ton ($39.00 cwt). This is slightly lower than the rebar pricing they are getting now. The flat-rolled market too is facing a downward trend.
In the meantime, in rod and rebars, the availability is plenty and imports are still quiet. One change in the imports is the renewal of the presidential proclamation, keeping Ukraine melted, EU rolled steel products out of Section 232 tariffs or quotas. Import stats showed some decent amounts of Bulgarian, Greek, and Polish rebar and wire rod entered the US, produced with Ukrainian billets. The same imports will no doubt find a way to arrive as avoiding a 25% tariff is a significant advantage and can compete with domestic products. | 
