Although US importers are offering “extreme flexibility” with US import wire rod offers, buyer interest continues to decline and order activity is “virtually nonexistent,” according to sources. The last-heard offer range have not changed week-on-week, at $27.00-$28.00 cwt. ($595-$617/mt or $540-$560/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports from Germany, although sources contend that any serious buyers will “absolutely” be able to book beneath $27.00 cwt.
The only bright spot in the US import wire rod market, sources say, is the recent launch of an AD/CVD investigation into wire mesh imports from Mexico. With alleged dumping margins of 64.07-152.68 percent, demand for imported mesh will decline if those margins continue through the final determinations in the case, allowing imported wire rod demand to increase in order to fabricate the product into mesh in the US. However, one source noted that “no one knows what the economy, let alone the wire market will look like by the time that case is resolved,” so predicting the impact of the case is “sketchy right now.”