Although the general spot price range for US domestic wire rod has remained stable in the last week, ever-falling predictions for May scrap prices have eroded whatever pricing power mills had left. More and more deals under the current spot range of $33.50-$34.50 cwt. ($739-$761/mt or $670-$690/nt) ex-mill have been heard in the market, and sources tell SteelOrbis that if scrap prices come down by as much as $20-$25/lt as predicted, mills will not be able to get away with keeping official asking prices neutral, as they did in early April.
Apart from raw material factors, weak demand is also putting downward pressure on US domestic wire rod prices, as well as keeping interest in imports low. Despite import offers being well beneath US domestic offerings, traders have not reported much activity with wire rod--especially from Turkey. Chinese wire rod bookings are steady to down at the current price range of $29.25-$30.25 cwt. ($645-$667/mt or $585-$605/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports--unchanged in the last week, while Turkish offer prices--at a slightly higher range of $30.50-$31.50 cwt. ($672-$694/mt or $610-$630/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports--have been generally ignored for a while due to Turkish mills disinterest in making orders attractive to US traders.