Global Fastener News

Questions Hover Over Wire Rod Imports

John Wolz

Wire rod prices are up slightly, but North American producers say imported steel is keeping business down.
Wire rod prices are moving up, but are still $60 to $70 per ton below 1998, when imports started climbing.
Last spring prices were $260 per ton, and most of the fall of 1999 they were about $295, according to American Metal Market. Current prices are about $300.
Reporter Scott Robertson wrote that wire rod imports were up 15.6% in November 1999, compared with the previous year. The 1998 figure had been a record.
President Clinton�s advisors are considering trade sanctions on wire rod imports.
The wire rod producers� problem �is nothing more complicated than the law of supply and demand,� Co-Steel Raritan vice president Steve Gresham told Robertson.
�Overall consumption for �99 and �98 was nearly identical. Part of �97 was good, but all of �98 was about as bad as I�ve seen in the industry in more than 20 years,� Gresham added.
Wire rod customers built up inventories in recent months, Gresham observed. Though prices have �stabilized,� they are �nowhere near where we need them to be.�
�We are at near-record consumption levels,� Gresham said. You�ve had a situation where everyone else is enjoying the boom, but those of us in wire rod have not only not benefited, we�ve gone into a situation that has never been worse.�