Although some traders report that Turkish mills are open to negotiation with
wire rod import offers, others report that, encouraged by an apparent slight uptrend in Turkish scrap prices, mills are drawing the line at current offer levels. With demand relatively weak in the
US, a lack of urgency to buy has left many traders “shrugging” at this show of firmness, with sources telling SteelOrbis that anyone who is serious about an order can probably still nudge prices down a tick. As such, offer prices in the
US for Turkish
wire rod are still in the range of $24.50-$25.50 cwt. ($490-$510/nt or $540-$562/nt) DDP loaded truck in
US Gulf ports, unchanged since last week.
As for
US domestic
wire rod, meanwhile, sources say the market is “chugging along” under conditions of weak demand and prices that are the lowest since mid-2009. But the overall consensus isn’t as dire as it was nearly six years ago, and many believe the current spot price range of $26.50-$27.50 cwt. ($530-$550/nt or $584-$606/mt) ex-mill has nowhere to go but up.