Price Announcement – Size Extras
Overnight, a leading manufacturer came out with a unique public announcement affecting only certain-sized extras for its rebar products. The announcement was an “update” to the size extras of #3, #14, and #18 bars to a $4.00/cwt adder. While the #14 & #18 are typically slower-moving items, their size increase had always been a $3.00/cwt standard, which would effectively raise those sizes another $1.00/cwt. The announcement on #3’s is a bit more impactful, as #3’s typically represents 5-10% of the overall rebar market and will impact the market differently in different regions. Import mills traditionally did not have an extra on #3’s, but imports are rapidly going away with the tariffs. In the East and Midwest, the mills had already enjoyed a $4.00/cwt premium on #3’s, so there really is no change for those markets. In the South and the West, markets that historically are impacted to a greater extent by imports, the domestics have had a lesser premium on the #3’s to be competitive. These markets could be impacted to a greater extent. Of course, that could then crack open the door for imports, where suddenly the higher market price for #3’s may once again garner some attention from imports….
In the days to come, other mills will review their strategy on these sizes and likely come up with their own versions of pricing on these sizes.
We will continue to keep you posted.
