Although Nucor’s $1.50 cwt. ($30/nt or $33/mt) transaction price increase for wire mesh announced last week doesn’t take effect until June 1, there has not been any reported flurry of buying activity ahead of the increase, which has led many to speculate that there’s little chance Nucor will be able to push the whole amount through. A more reasonable goal, according to sources, would be $0.50 cwt. ($10/nt or $11/mt) at the most, but even that is not guaranteed. Further, the lackluster response to such a bold push for price firmness doesn’t bode well for the wire rod market either. If Nucor thought that they could transfer a strong construction-backed mesh trend over to the general rod market, they will very likely be mistaken. Scrap prices are not forecasted to firm up much, if at all, next month, and already, the current wire rod spot range of $32.50-$34.00 cwt. ($650-$680/nt or $728-$761/mt) ex-mill is starting to erode on the high end.
However, US domestic wire rod mills are currently spared from import competition at the moment, as recently uptrending wire rod offers from Turkey have taken a breather before possibly increasing again. Traders tell SteelOrbis that even offers in the range of $32.00-$33.00 cwt. ($640-$660/nt or $705-$727/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports are too high to garner much interest.