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.