Although Turkish wire rod mills are reportedly eager to firm up offers to the US, less-than-robust demand for wire rod in the US, combined with an ample supply of Chinese wire rod at the ports, is hampering their efforts. According to US import license data, 63,532 mt of wire rod arrived in the US from China in March--twice the amount that arrived in February--and traders tell SteelOrbis that more will flow in this month. As such, decent port deals have attracted customers who might otherwise look to stock up with future orders from Turkey, which are still in the range of $31.00-$32.00 cwt. ($620-$640/nt or $683-$705/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports.
Even so, Turkish offer prices are well below current US domestic spot prices, and the margin between the two could widen if scrap prices trend upward this month as predicted. While US mills might not be able to pass all of the expected raw material cost increases onto wire rod prices, sources say they have a good shot of pushing through at least $0.50 cwt. ($10/nt or $11/mt) or so, especially if the demand outlook starts to pick up. Until then, US domestic wire rod spot prices are still in the range of $33.50-$34.50 cwt. ($670-$690/nt or $739-$761/mt) ex-mill--unchanged since last week.