While most of the US domestic wire rod market remains skeptical at the chances of last week’s announced $1.25 cwt. ($25/nt or $28/mt) price increase, there are reportedly pockets of optimism in the market that some portion of the increase will push through.
Demand remains tepid with no expectation of improvement for the remainder of the year, but mills have signaled that they intend to at least put a floor on wire rod spot prices, and possibly firm them up with the backing of higher scrap prices to improve quarterly and year-end revenue. Some sources speculate that mills could get $0.50 cwt. ($10/nt or $11/nt) of the increase, but possibly not until early January.
For now, US domestic wire rod prices have halted their slow decline, remaining unchanged this week at $28.50-$29.50 cwt. ($628-$650/mt or $570-$590/nt) ex-mill.