After US mills dropped prices for rebar and merchant bar this week, many in the domestic long products market are wondering if wire rod prices will follow suit. US wire rod mills do not usually make price adjustments public—they rarely even send letters to customers—so if wire rod prices are indeed headed for a downtrend, it will most likely be on a quiet, case-by-case basis, which would leave mills with some semblance of negotiating power. Sources tell SteelOrbis that customers are already submitting lower bids to US wire rod mills, but it remains to be seen if they will be accepted or not. Until the trend is clear, US wire rod spot prices are still officially in the range of $31.00-$32.00 cwt. ($620-$640/nt or $683-$705/mt) ex-mill.
As for imports, the brief attempt at an uptrend for Turkish wire rod in the New Year has dwindled away, and traders expect spotty lower offers from Turkish mills to become more widespread in the next week. However, until traders are certain how soft the trend really is, they are reluctant to lower offer prices to customers, leaving the range at $27.50-$28.50 cwt. ($550-$570/nt or $606-$628/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports. “It’s not like customers are clamoring to book anyway,” said one Midwest-based trader.