Pittsburgh — Nucor said in a letter to customers that it plans to increase wire rod transaction prices in the U.S. with new orders on Jan. 13.
The steelmaker announced an increase of $110/st in all wire rod transaction prices along with price protection for existing orders shipped through Jan. 31.
Evraz NA had also increased wire rod prices by $90/st, according to a buyer-side source. At the time of writing, Platts had not received a letter announcing a price increase from Evraz.
Later in the day, Liberty Steel followed with a $110/st increase in all wire rod transaction prices effective from February 1 shipments.
The main reason for the announcements was the huge increase in mill scrap prices, which rose by about $90/l during the January scrap purchase. The move marks a third round of price hikes in months. Wire rod manufacturers had increased their prices by $95-105/st in early December following significant increases in mill scrap prices.
Initial reactions to the recent price increase announcements were mixed.
"I'm not sure this is justified given the sharp rise in scrap prices," one distributor said. "They're just piling up at this point."
According to one buyer, a larger price increase would be expected from the scrap price increase between tight supply and long lead times. "These conditions guarantee margin expansion," he added.
S&P Global Platts' most recent weekly wire drawing was $745-765/st on Jan. 8, representing a 20-month high.
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