Although most US steel import markets took a breather last week for the Thanksgiving holiday, the wire rod sector has not experienced an uptick in order activity or prices similar to that of rebar. Traders tell SteelOrbis that demand for import wire rod is still “lackluster at best,” and while there has been some “back-and-forth” with Turkish mills regarding import offers, the general range has not moved in the last week.
However, sources say that the swift absorption of the US domestic wire rod price increase that went into effect this week might have a “motivating” influence on the import market, with either higher quotes from offshore mills to capture the market trend, or an uptick in import bookings for as long as import offers stay relatively low. But for now, Turkish offers of imported product in the US domestic market are still in the range of $22.00-$23.00 cwt. ($440-$460/nt or $485-$507/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports.