Slow demand for wire rod in the US has led to another stable trend in the wire rod import market this week. Turkish offers of imported product in the US domestic market are still in the range of $23.00-$24.00 cwt. ($460-$480/nt or $507-$529/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, reflecting no change from prices reported a week ago.
However, sources tell SteelOrbis that Turkish mills are eyeing the US domestic wire rod market to see if there’s room to firm up offers. Only about $0.50 cwt. ($10/nt or $11/mt) of the $2.25 cwt. ($45/nt or $50/mt) price increase that went into effect March 1 has been absorbed into the market, but if domestic prices look to be following an upward trend, however slight, sources say import offers could follow.
Complicating efforts to lift US import wire rod prices are position tons flowing into US ports that were booked at lower levels than current offer prices. According to the latest US steel import data, 121,545 mt of wire rod import permits were recorded in February, followed by the 96,013 mt that arrived in January (preliminary census data). While totals from both months fall below levels from the same months of 2016, traders tell SteelOrbis they are still “overwhelmed” with product and focused on unloading it.