Purchasing Cooperative for Independent Rebar Fabricators
The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has updated its annual forecast of cement consumption to show 2.8 percent growth in 2018. This number is down from the projections released earlier in the year, and are based on poor weather and lower anticipated public sector budgets. However, PCA notes that a strong federal infrastructure bill could have a positive impact on cement consumption.
Historically, rebar consumption has followed cement consumption with nearly perfect correlation.
According to a recent article in American Metal Market (click here; subscription required), the Trump administration is expecting to get results of the Sec. 232 investigations into aluminum and steel imports sometime before the January deadline. Steel industry leaders have urged for immediate action, citing a surge in imports following previous missed deadlines in 2017.
According to import licenses, U.S. long product imports fell 3% in September. This is after a larger 18% drop month-over-month in August. Cumulatively for the first 9 months of 2017, overall long products imports have fallen 6% over the same period last year. This drop is “driven entirely by lower rebar imports,” according to our friends at Nerds of Steel.