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Key takeaways:
Rebar production totaled 1.65 million tonnes in May 2025, down 1.5% from 1.68 million tonnes in the same period in 2024. Yet, when compared with 1.30 million tonnes produced in April 2025, output increased by 27%.
Consumption also dropped. Rebar usage reached 1.60 million tonnes in the fifth month of the year. This is a 3.3% decline compared with 1.66 million tonnes in the first five months of 2024. In the monthly comparison, a 29% growth also was registered, with 1.24 million tonnes consumed in April.
Fastmarkets’ initial weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), delivered Monterrey, Mexico was 13,600-14,000 pesos ($725-746) per tonne on Thursday June 26.Fastmarkets launched its first domestic rebar price assessment in Mexico on June 26. The next Monterrey rebar price assessment was published on Thursday July 3. It was pushed forward one day due to the United States Independence Day holiday.
For wire rod, production declined by 0.2% year-on-year to 989,000 tonnes in May, from 991,000 tonnes in 2024. A sharp drop was noticed in its demand, which decreased by 4.6%, totaling 1.03 million tonnes in May, from 1.08 million tonnes in May 2024.
On the other hand, monthly comparisons showed positive results for wire rod, with its output growing by 23.8% from 799,000 tonnes in April and consumption growing by 24.2% from 829,000 tonnes in the same month.
Fastmarkets price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality) export, fob main port Latin America, was $540-550 per tonne on Friday June 6, down by 0.91% from $545-555 per tonne on Friday May 2.Market participants attributed the drop in demand to a sluggish construction sector.
“[Long steel] markets [are] very stagnant, with low demand, mainly in the segment involving rebar,” a Mexico-based distributor told Fastmarkets “Between June and September, there is heavier rainfall in the region, which complicates construction, so I believe this market is likely to remain calm.”
According to seasonally adjusted figures from Mexico’s National Statistics Institute (INEGI), construction activity in the country fell by 2.0% month-on-month in April and 2.7% year-on-year.
This performance diverged from Mexico’s broader economy, which grew by 0.5% month-on-month and 1.4% year-on-year in the same period, according to the Global Indicator of Economic Activity (IGAE).
The construction sector remains one of the weakest-performing components of the economy, according to INEGI data.
Rebar prices in the Americas showed diverging trends in the first half of 2025. Those in Brazil were on a steady downward path, prices in the United States climbed month on month and Mexican rebar values entered at a mid-range level.
Brazilian prices declined from January to June, after a wave of price increases at the end of 2024. This reflectd persistent weakness in the country’s domestic construction sector and tight credit conditions. In contrast, US rebar prices gained momentum, supported by restricted imports and mill-led price hikes.
Mexico entered the chart in late June with its inaugural Fastmarkets assessment at approximately $735 per tonne, positioning itself below US levels, but above Brazil, amid stable, but cautious market fundamentals.
In Brazil, despite slight improvements in weather conditions, the combination of high borrowing costs and limited access to financing, in addition to high interest rates and buyers’ low purchasing power, continued to stifle construction activity.
Fastmarkets’ monthly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, monthly, delivered Brazil was 3,310–3,540 Reais ($597-639) per tonne on Friday June 13, down by 230-100 Reais per tonne, or 4.60%, from 3,540–3,640 Reais per tonne in May.“The market is paralyzed. With interest rates where they are, no one is going to buy rebar like it’s cement,” a distributor source in Brazil said. “Credit is tight, the sector is insecure and the government needs to take more steps to build investor confidence.”
In the US, domestic rebar prices were stable, also registering middling to low demand, with mills trying to pass on price increases.“We see lots of opposing dynamics at play and continuing weaker demand,” a buyer source said.
Fastmarkets assessed the price of steel reinforcing bar (rebar), fob mill US at $42 per hundredweight ($840 per short ton) on Wednesday July 2, flat week on week after going up by 7.69% from $39 per cwt on June 4.“[Domestic] supply [in the US] is quite tight despite continuing lackluster demand because imports are exceptionally challenging and mostly absent [right now],” a trader said.
Market participants in Mexico noted that while long steel products such as rebar are less exposed to international trade dynamics than flat products, due to not being quoted among the main steel imports to the country, export volumes are beginning to shift, with some rebar originally destined for the US potentially redirected to Canada or other Latin American countries.
According to CANACERO figures, exports of rebar stood at 59,000 tonnes in May, down by 15.3% year-on-year from 69,000 tonnes. Wire exports – including wire rod and similar products – held mostly flat at 137,000 tonnes, just 0.3% below 2024 levels.
Month-on-month, rebar exports increased by 11.3% from 53,000 tonnes in April, while wire rod exports increased by 23.4% from 111,000 tonnes.
The main destination for these exports remains the US, accounting for 73.9% of Mexico’s steel exports, followed by Canada at 4.6% and Colombia and 2.9%.
Want to learn more about long steel globally? Explore the evolution of green steel premiums in Europe.