During the week ending January 5, hot dip galvanized (HDG) prices in the Chinese domestic market have slid down again. Average HDG prices in the Chinese market can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
Due to the cold weather, end-users' HDG purchasing activity has slowed down, and transactions in the market are increasingly scarce. Most traders have been gradually reducing their activities, both before and after the New Year holiday. Meanwhile, some small traders have concluded deals for HDG at RMB 10-20/mt ($1-3/mt) lower than mainstream market offer levels. With the approach of the Spring Festival, most HDG traders have no confidence in the prospects for an improvement in the market trend in the near future. Moreover, some trading companies to set to close for business around January 14.
There is no great inventory pressure on domestic HDG traders at the current time; however, due to pessimistic expectations for the market in the coming period, traders are actively seeking to reduce their HDG stocks.
Overall, it is expected that prices of HDG will continue to trend down in the Chinese domestic market.