An uncertain trend in the US domestic wire rod market has had an impact on US import wire rod offers, with buyers eager to push prices lower and sellers resisting based on near-term market forecasts. After scrap prices in the US dropped in January, import wire rod buyers gained leverage as US domestic wire prices were weakened. However, the latest scrap predictions for February now point to a possible slight uptrend, which will result in wire rod sellers—both domestic and import—reluctant to cut deals.
For now, import wire rod offers to the US from Germany are still stable in the range of $35.50-$36.50 cwt. ($783-$805/mt or $710-$730/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports.