US wire rod mills have shrugged off a $10-per-gross-ton decline in Chicago shredded scrap to keep steel rod prices flat, market participants said.
American Metal Market kept its domestic industrial-quality rod price flat, at $38-$40 per hundredweight, in an assessment on Wednesday May 9. Buyers polled by American Metal Market saw prices in a range of $37-41.50 per cwt, although the $37 per cwt remained an unusually low price and was cited for May rollings rather than June shipment. One buyer said he could only obtain tons in June rollings because he'd committed last month to purchases, with prices to be determined by the mill. His first price indication so far has him at $43 per cwt delivered into the East Coast, which American Metal Market normalized to $41-41.50 per cwt...