Tariff-related uncertainty had already permeated the US import wire rod market long before the coronavirus outbreak, and with the economic situation worsening each week, sources say “you’d have to be crazy” to book an import order that won’t arrive for months.
As such, no new offers have been heard for US import wire rod. The last-reported numbers from Germany were at $29.50-$30.50 cwt. ($650-$672/mt or $590-$610/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, but sources say that anyone “optimistic enough” to book could likely find material at a “significant discount.”