Scrap numbers were out this week with a $20/ton decrease on shredded grades. This one was expected for a few weeks now and it didn’t cause any major surprise.
Although the long products have been still soft in terms of price and demand, this decrease will not help the mills to recover any margins. Supply has been plentiful and the domestic mills fight among themselves and primarily with their USMCA neighbors.
Other imports that are subject to 25% tariff are mostly absent from the competition, now the domestic prices have softened to a level the other importers are barely competing.
The only wildcard in the supply chain is the Ukrainian melted, EU rolled products that are now tariff and quota free. The president renewed the privilege in June so the imports of wire rods from Poland and Greece and rebars from Bulgaria and Greece can resume their shipments. The two major producers are trying to keep their numbers slightly below the other imports to reap the most benefits of tariff savings so for the buyers, these imports are better priced but are not a bargain.
This week, spot prices of rebars and wire rods both softened $0.50 cwt to $1 cwt in the most competitive Gulf market.
Still, these decreases are pretty modest compared to flat rolled price decreases that ranged from $3 cwt to $6 cwt depending on the product. Nucor’s published HRC price is now $36 cwt which is probably $3 or $4 cwt lower than their rebar prices. Should the players in the long products market consider themselves lucky? | 
