A major steel distributor in southeast Brazil told SteelOrbis that wire rod prices were reduced as an alternative to increase sales in volume, which in July declined by up to 40 percent on yearly basis.
According to the source, the prices of both the mesh and drawing grades were reduced by eight percent to BRL2,889/mt ($859/mt) and BRL3,230/mt ($960/mt), respectively, both CFR, full taxes conditions.
The source mentioned that the reduction was expected to be in force one month ago, but was postponed due to positive perspectives for July, but the volume sold resulted far less than expected for the month.
He ascribes the downturn to the poor performance of the local economy, worsened over the last days by a political dispute between the head of the lower congress house and the government authorities.
During June, Brazil exported the mesh grade wire rod at $448/mt and the drawing grade at $506/mt, both FOB conditions.
1 US$ = BRL 3.36 (July 27)