US wire rod market – Price trend neutral after quiet holiday week

Now that the holiday season is over, professionals in the US wire rod market are looking forward to a strong new year. The past two weeks have been very slow for trading as well as for domestic buying. However, this is mainly due to the holidays. Now that we have entered the first quarter, the general sentiment in the wire rod market is optimistic, with prices expected to improve after a few more weeks of slow activity. Most wire rod offers from domestic mills still range from $24.50 cwt. to $25.50 cwt. ($540 /mt to $562 /mt or $490 /nt to $510 /nt) for low carbon, and from $27.00 cwt. to $28.00 cwt. ($595 /mt to $617 /mt or $540 /nt to $560 /nt) for high carbon. The pricing trend is still neutral. Import prices are also expected to pick up in the coming weeks, though the pricing trend is still neutral for now. Import mesh grade wire rod offers still range from $22.75 cwt. to $23.75 cwt. ($502 /mt to $524 /mt or $455 /nt to $475 /nt) FOB, loaded-truck, in US Gulf ports. Drawing quality still ranges from $24.50 cwt. to $25.50 cwt. ($540 /mt to $562 /mt or $490 /nt to $510 /nt) FOB, loaded-truck, in US Gulf ports from most sources. Some Chinese drawing quality might run $0.50 cwt. ($11 /mt or $10 /nt) below this range. In 2006, China, Canada, and Turkey were still the major import sources for wire rod. Statistics from the US Steel Import Monitor show that from January through October 2006, the top exporters of wire rod to the US were: China at 1,037,572 mt, Canada at 250,190 mt, and Turkey at 226,131 mt. Statistics from the same period of 2005 show that the main exporters of wire rod to the US were: China at 565,801 mt, Turkey at 306,946 mt, and Canada at 271,181 mt.