US wire rod market – Still going strong

The domestic market for wire rod is still strong – buyers have accepted domestic producers' June increases, and July increases are on the horizon. This week, domestic wire rod offers range from $27.00 cwt. to $28.00 cwt. ($595 /mt to $617 /mt or $540 /nt to $560 /nt) FOB mill for low carbon, and from $29.50 cwt. to $31.50 cwt. ($650 /mt to $694 /mt or $590 /nt to $630 /nt) FOB mill for high carbon. (These numbers represent the average offers in the market, although big buyers are still getting offers slightly under these prices, and smaller buyers are paying slightly more.) The domestic pricing trend is still strongly up with relatively tight supplies and strong demand. South American inventories are still very tight because of the ongoing Sicartsa strike in Mexico. Import prices have not gone up on the whole since last week, but the pricing trend is still strongly up, as Chinese mills are raising their asking prices. We should see another increase in import pricing within the next couple weeks. Import offers in the market range 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 for low carbon and from $26.00 cwt. to $27.00 cwt. ($572 /mt to $595 /mt or $520 /nt to $540 /nt) for high carbon FOB, loaded-truck, in US Gulf ports. Preliminary license data from the US government shows that during the month of May 2006, the top five countries from which the US imported wire rod were: China, at 45,450 mt; Canada, at 32,348 mt; Russia, at 14,922 mt; and Trinidad and Tobago, at 10,999 mt; and Malaysia, at 10,271 mt.