During the week ending August 19, hot dip galvanized (HDG) steel prices in the Chinese domestic market have trended upward slightly. However, influenced by the fluctuation in the steel futures market in China, players in the domestic galvanized market have become more cautious. As of August 19, average HDG prices in the major Chinese regions are as follows:
Product name | Specification | Category | Average price (RMB/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change ($/mt) |
Thick HDG | 1.0 mm x 1,250 mm | SGCC | 5,333 | +30 | 788 | +3 |
Thin HDG | 0.5 mm x 1,000 mm | SGCC | 5,510 | - | 813 | - |
With the upticks in galvanized steel prices observed in the past few weeks, sellers are still able to make a profit from the materials they hold in stock. However, as the rising trend has slowed down during the past week, an overall wait-and-see atmosphere has begun to prevail in the market. Thus, market activity has slackened to some extent.
During the week in question, as mills have tried to push up prices, the domestic galvanized steel market continued to perform positively. Meanwhile, more new arrivals of supplies have been seen in the eastern Chinese market than in the southern and northern markets, with some specifications observed to be scarce especially in the northern market.
For the coming period, it is expected that domestic galvanized steel prices will probably slide down given the weak transaction situation.