Two months of neutral transaction price moves in the US domestic merchant bar market have not done much to change the overall trend of large distributors selling at or just above published mill prices, although sources do not report any widespread, major discounting. However, some "strangely low" spot deals have been seen in the market from mills trying to clear out inventory of certain sizes and shapes. Sources say such deals have been concluded anywhere from $1.00-$2.00 cwt. ($22-$44/mt or $20-$40/nt) below current published mill prices of $37.60-$39.05 cwt. ($829-$861/mt or $752-$781/nt), but because the deals are on merchant bar products that are not popular or have experienced a temporary dip in demand, they don't believe the trend will expand into the most commonly ordered products.
On the import side, traders report mild inquiry activity, as the margin between import offers and US domestic prices needs to be quite wide--much wider than necessary with other long products such as rebar--for US buyers to show interest. Currently, import merchant bar offers to the US from Turkey are in the range of $35.00-$36.00 cwt. ($772-$794/mt or $700-$720/nt) DDP loaded truck into the US East Coast, with shipments into the Gulf topping out at $35.00 cwt.