Prices for special bar quality (SBQ) steel products in the United States have risen again, moving up by $0.50 per hundredweight ($10 per short ton) due to increasing raw material costs while market participants eye an early 2019 mill hike.
Fastmarket AMM assessed the price for 1-inch round 1000 series (carbon) hot-rolled bar at $46.50 per cwt ($930 per ton) on Friday November 9, up 16.3% from $40 per cwt ($800 per ton) at the beginning of the year. Similarly, the price for 1-inch round 1018 (carbon) cold-finished bar rose to $65.50 per cwt ($1,310 per ton) on Friday, up 17% from $56 per cwt ($1,120) in early January. Busheling boost sustains upward momentumThe price for No1 busheling scrap in Chicago stepped up by $10 per gross ton on November 2, matching the year-to-date high of $405 per gross ton last seen in July. After falling in September, the price for busheling scrap in Chicago climbed by $20 per ton last month. And the market could anticipate further upward pressure on SBQ prices from rising scrap...