Although extreme pressure on the Turkish wire rod market--aggressive Chinese competition and downtrending scrap prices--has softened import offers to the US on the CFR side, traders tell SteelOrbis that they are waiting for offers to drop even further before booking orders. With the US being one of the only remaining markets for Turkish wire rod that Chinese mills can’t touch, it’s only a matter of time, traders say, before Turkish mills become as flexible as US traders hope they will be. Until anything definite happens, traders are still offering Turkish wire rod in the general range of $31.00-$32.00 cwt. ($620-$640/nt or $683-$705/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, although deals well below that level could be available soon.
Meanwhile, the US domestic wire rod market has continued to trend neutral in the past week, with sources telling SteelOrbis that business is “fine” with little indication of a trend shift. As such, spot prices in the range of $32.50-$33.50 cwt. ($650-$670/nt or $717-$739/mt) ex-mill are still available, although sources do not believe downtrending import prices will have much of an impact.