Following last week’s considerable dip in import wire rod offers from Turkey, sales prices showed another decline this week, although by a much more moderate amount. Traders tell SteelOrbis they are now offering Turkish wire rod in the range of $21.25-$22.25 cwt. ($425-$445/nt or $468-$490/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, reflecting a $0.25 cwt. ($5/nt or $5.50/mt) drop since our last report a week ago. While sources say this probably doesn’t represent the price floor, any further decreases are expected to be similarly slight.
Traders still report lackluster buying activity in the import wire rod market, for future orders or positions, not that many positions are available. According to US import license data, the US only imported just over 3,518 mt of wire rod from Turkey in August, compared to nearly 17,000 mt in July. But with about 3,000 mt arriving in the first three days of September, the August trend looks to be an anomaly, not indicative of a sharp change in the overall trend.
Meanwhile, spot prices in the US wire rod market are still erratic, with most transactions falling between last week’s range of $26.50-$27.50 cwt. ($530-$550/nt or $584-$606/mt) ex-mill. Sources say some Nucor customers are paying prices that reflect the mill’s full $1.50 cwt. ($30/nt or $33/mt) decrease, but that trend doesn’t extend to the bulk of its customer base—just the largest ones.