Amid rising global raw material costs, new hot dipped galvanized (HDG) and Galvalume coil import offers to the US are anticipated to be higher still. As a result of increasing iron ore costs, trader sources tell SteelOrbis that new Chinese offer prices to the US are likely to reflect another increase-a few weeks ago, Chinese HDG coil offer prices to the US increased by about $0.50-$1.00 cwt. ($11-$22/mt or $10-$20/nt), and Chinese mills showed little desire to show leniency with the newly higher prices. And in the next week or so, new, and higher, offer prices out of China are expected.
Indian mills, meanwhile, which raised their offer prices to the US a couple weeks ago, are slowly pushing prices higher as well. Although import orders placed today are scheduled for a year-end arrival, activity levels have not fallen off as a result. US customers aren't making any major offshore purchases (neither are traders booking position tons, for that matter), but some offshore prices are still as much as $5.00 cwt. ($110/mt or $100/nt) below US domestic spot prices, making import buys worth the risk for some.
| Cwt. | Metric ton (mt) | Net ton (nt) | Change from last week | |
| Import HDG offers to the US | ||||
| 0.012"x40.875" G30 | ||||
| China* | $41-$42 | $904-$926 | $820-$840 | neutral |
| India* | $42-$43 | $926-$948 | $840-$860 | neutral |
| 0.019" x 48" G90 | ||||
| China* | $42-$43 | $926-$948 | $840-$860 | neutral |
| India* | $42.50-$43.50 | $937-$959 | $850-$870 | neutral |
| Import Galvalume offers to the US | ||||
| 0.019x41.5625 Gr80/AZ55 | ||||
| Mexico** | $44-$46 | $970-$1,014 | $880-$920 | neutral |
| India* | $43-$44 | $948-$970 | $860-$880 | neutral |
| Taiwan* | $43-$44 | $948-$970 | $860-$880 | neutral |
| China* | $43.50-$44.50 | $959-$981 | $870-$890 | neutral |
*DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports
**DDP loaded truck delivered into Houston