Pittsburgh (Platts)--12Nov2012/443 pm EST/2143 GMT
US steelmaker Nucor was the first to announce expected price increases, saying in Friday letters that it would raise rebar, merchant bar and structural product prices $35/st for shipments startomg December 1. Other long product mills had not followed suit as of Monday morning. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor cut base prices for rebar, merchant bars and structural products by $17/st to partly offset the $52/st increase in its scrap surcharge, which is based on an industry benchmark shredded scrap surcharge. The net effect is a $35/st hike. Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Steel Dynamics Inc and Tampa, Florida-based Gerdau Long Steel North America have yet to announce price moves in response to higher scrap prices. Article continues below... Request a free trial of: Platts SBB Steel Markets Daily Platts SBB Steel Markets Daily provides transparent daily and weekly assessments of iron ore, coking coal, coke, ferrous scrap and ferroalloys prices, plus insightful analysis and commentary on the day's market activities.
US steelmaker Nucor was the first to announce expected price increases, saying in Friday letters that it would raise rebar, merchant bar and structural product prices $35/st for shipments startomg December 1. Other long product mills had not followed suit as of Monday morning. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor cut base prices for rebar, merchant bars and structural products by $17/st to partly offset the $52/st increase in its scrap surcharge, which is based on an industry benchmark shredded scrap surcharge. The net effect is a $35/st hike. Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Steel Dynamics Inc and Tampa, Florida-based Gerdau Long Steel North America have yet to announce price moves in response to higher scrap prices.
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Platts SBB Steel Markets Daily provides transparent daily and weekly assessments of iron ore, coking coal, coke, ferrous scrap and ferroalloys prices, plus insightful analysis and commentary on the day's market activities.
An eastern service center source predicted there will be a "little splurge in buying before the increases." He said he believes the increase is mostly attributable to scrap costs, adding that demand doesn't support the higher prices. Despite Hurricane Sandy's impact on the East Coast, he said material -- including structurals and rebar -- is still readily available. A Midwestern rebar fabricator anticipated a $25-30/st price increase for rebar because of softness in the market. "The up and down monthly changes certainly make that balancing act of backlog versus inventory an interesting challenge," he said. In October, when Nucor's shredded scrap surcharge fell by $47/st, the company's net prices for rebar slid by $25/st, beams prices dropped $30/st and merchant bar prices fell by $40/st. SDI and Gerdau matched the price moves for these products, except Gerdau noted the rebar price drop did not apply to its coiled rebar.--Estelle Tran, estelle_tran@platts.com --Edited by Jeff Barber, jeff_barber@platts.com
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