GERDAU FOLLOWS MERCHANT BAR PRICE CUT

Gerdau Long Steel North America has followed other US mills by lowering merchant bar prices and cancelling unofficial discounts. 

Florida-based Gerdau cut prices by $70 per ton for "most angles, channels, flats, rounds and squares" effective with shipments from December 7, the company said in a December 7 letter to customers. 

"As a result of this published price decrease, all programmes to address current rebates, discounts and import offers in the market are immediately eliminated," Gerdau said. 

A number of producers, including Nucor Corp and Steel Dynamics Inc, cut prices on merchant and structural products by $70 per ton last week in a move some viewed as a helpful "reset" of a market characterised by many unofficial discounts.