Although there has not been a measurable uptick in buying activity for US domestic wire rod in the last week, sources say the market is “chugging along,” with customers continuing to prefer buying in smaller increments from domestic producers. Demand is still less than robust, but sources are still optimistic that business is “gradually improving.”
Prices for US wire rod are steady as well, and not expected to vacillate much, even if currently-mixed expectations for the US scrap trend in March start to turn downward. Spot prices in the US domestic wire rod market are therefore stable week-on-week at $29.00-$30.50 cwt. ($580-$610/nt or $639-$672/mt) ex-mill.