Published by:Robert England<>
21 Apr 2025 @ 21:43 UTC

Prices for special bar quality (SBQ) steel in the US edged higher, with base prices holding steady amid reduced supply from Canada, where tariffs have made prices too high to attract US buyers, according to market participants. Fastmarkets’ monthly price assessment forsteel bar hot-rolled special bar quality (SBQ) 1-inch round 1000 series (carbon), fob mill US was $58 per hundredweight ($1,160 per short ton) on Monday April 21, up by 0.43% from $57.75 on March 21 and flat from February 18.
The corresponding monthly price assessment for steel bar cold-finished 1-inch round 1018 (carbon), fob mill US was $73.50 per cwt on Monday, up by 0.68% from $73 on March 21 and up 1.38% from $72.50 per cwt on February 18.
Prices for larger sizes of SBQ bars are significantly higher in April, and the pace of the price gains are not reflected Fastmarkets’ monthly assessments of 1-inch bars.
Led by Nucor, steelmakers announced a $60-per-ton increase late last month for hot-rolled SBQ bars with diameters 3 1/4 inches or higher, effective April 1.
Separately, the mills raised prices by $70 per ton on cold-finished bars with diameters of 3 9/16in and higher.
Buyers found the targeted size price increases perplexing.
A southern distributor said, “I’m shocked that the larger sizes increased, because I kept hearing the market was oversupplied. I know our cold-finished guys have been busy, and some thought we could see an across-the-board increase.”
Canadian mill prices jumped higher in response to 25% tariffs from the US, pushing up Canadian base prices by $14 per cwt, or $280 per short ton, according to an eastern US distributor.
“The Canadian mills are pretty much dead. No one wants 12L14 [cold finished, leaded bars] at that price,” the eastern distributor said. “I think it’s only going to be a short amount of time before corporations begin to shut down Canadian mills that can’t support their business on Canadian sales.”
“Overall business is very good. We are seeing much more tons shipping to customers that were traditionally buying foreign,” the eastern distributor said.
A consumer had a mixed view, stating, “Nothing has really changed much for anything, other than demand seems a tad slower.”
“Pricing is pretty much the same, but some people’s surcharges might see a slight increase and some will be lower. Just depends on the mill,” the consumer said.