Although spot prices in the US domestic wire rod market have eroded since April's scrap decrease was announced, mills did not make any formal price decrease announcements. While it would seem unlikely that they would follow the same script this month, with still-flagging demand levels and a scrap decrease of $20-$25/lt, sources say mills believe this month's scrap price will be the "bottom" before an inevitable increase. Therefore, mills are expected to once again keep official asking prices level while at the same time offering a spectrum of deals to all order size levels. The largest customers will probably be able to secure deals for $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) lower than the current spot range of $33.50-$34.50 cwt. ($739-$761/mt or $670-$690/nt) ex-mill, or even more, considering there are already deals under that range prevalent in the market.
As for imports, traders still report decent booking activity for Chinese wire rod in the offer 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. Although prices for Chinese wire rod are not expected to change in the near-term, traders are unsure of how long the aforementioned low level can last. Turkish wire rod, meanwhile, is also unchanged this week in the range of $30.50-$31.50 cwt. ($672-$694/mt or $610-$630/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, with a similar low-demand trend continuing.