Dive Brief:
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A substantial drop in demand for rebar “has everyone concerned” about a slowdown in construction activity in 2016 and 2017, the general manager of the Northwest’s largest manufacturer of the material said on Friday.
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Matt Lyons, vice president of Nucor Steel Seattle, said his firm’s Seattle rebar-manufacturing plant is running at 85% capacity, down 10% from pre-recession times, when it was operating at 95% and barely able to keep up with demand.
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Orders for rebar, a concrete reinforcing material, are a reliable predictor of future construction activity because it must be in place before concrete can be poured, noted Lyons, whose plant supplies the Northwest, Alaska, Hawaii and British Columbia.
Dive Insight:
Lyon’s remarks came just days after the June Dodge Momentum Index revealed a 1.3% dip in projects in the nonresidential construction pipeline. The Index, by Dodge Data & Analytics, also is a bellwether of near-term construction activity.
But Dodge researchers said they expect a rebound in plans for new commercial buildings by the end of the year.