During the week ending December 1, hot dip galvanized (HDG) steel prices in the Chinese domestic market have continued to trend down.
As of December 1, the price of SGCC 1.0 mm x 1,250 mm x C galvanized products in the markets of Shanghai, Guangzhou and Boxing respectively stands at RMB 5,040/mt ($796/mt), RMB 5,150/mt ($814/mt) and RMB 4,950/mt ($782/mt); meanwhile, the price of SGCC 0.5 mm x 1,000 mm x C stands at RMB 5,230/mt ($826/mt), RMB 5,500/mt ($869/mt) and RMB 4,820/mt ($761/mt) in the above respective markets. These prices include 17 percent VAT ($1 = RMB 6. 33). Local HDG prices in the Chinese market can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
It seems that the slight decreases in output of crude steel in China will have some positive knock-on impact on the domestic HDG market. However, due to the ongoing debt crisis in European countries and sluggish downstream demand amid the cold weather, the HDG market in China has so far failed to see any recovery. Currently, traders lack optimism for the future and are not in any rush to replenish their stocks for winter. Most traders prefer to adopt a wait-and-see stance or to trade only small volumes of HDG material.
Overall, it is expected that HDG prices in China will continue to drop down in the coming week.