After a mid-January price increase announcement flopped within the US domestic wire rod market, spot prices remained steady but vulnerable while sources expected an “inflection point” on the horizon. However, late last week Nucor announced a price decrease of $1.50 cwt. ($33/mt or $30/nt), effective with all new orders, surprising many in the market.
While sources say they were aware larger mills were seeing “significant resistance” to higher prices, demand for wire rod was thought to be strong enough to keep prices afloat a little longer. Demand is still decent, sources say, especially for smaller wire rod producers, who might not adopt Nucor’s decrease.
As such, while the low end of the average US domestic wire rod spot price range has declined week-on-week, the upper end of the range has remained unchanged. Current US wire rod prices are now trending in the wider range of $53.50-$57.00 cwt. ($1,179-$1,257/mt or $1,070-$1,140/nt) ex-mill, although some sources say the decrease could “ripple through the rest of the market” in the near-term.