In the early part of last week, SteelOrbis predicted that US domestic hot dipped galvanized prices would continue to firm. At that point, US domestic flat rolled steel mills had announced two, back-to-back $1.50 cwt. ($33/mt or $30/nt) price increase announcements.
Last week, US flat rolled steel mills announced a third. The latest announcement indicated that mills panned to raise prices by an additional $1.50-$2.00 cwt. ($33-$44/mt or $30-$40/nt), effective with all new orders.
In addition, US Steel and NLMK USA announced upward pricing revisions for Galvanized coating extras, due to “rising zinc prices.”
As such, US HDG prices have exhibited additional signs of firming. Today, the most commonly reported spot price transaction range for US domestic base-price HDG coil has firmed by $1.00 cwt. on the top since our last report a week ago, which brings the current range to $37-$39 cwt ($816-$860/mt or $740-$780/nt), ex-Midwest mill. Sources close to SteelOrbis note that current lead times are now trending "somewhere between five and nine weeks."
Although overall order activity is expected to trend light this week, due to the US Thanksgiving holiday, it is still believed that US HDG spot market prices have not yet reached their peak.
| Cwt. | Metric Ton (mt) | Net ton (nt) | Change from last week | |
| US domestic HDG base price | $37-$39 | $816-$860 | $740-$780 | up $1.00 cwt on the top end |
| 0.012”x40.875” G30 | ||||
| ex-Midwest mill | $45-$46 | $992-$1014 | $900-$920 | neutral |
| 0.019”x48” G90 | ||||
| ex-Midwest mill | $45-$46 | $992-$1014 | $900-$920 | neutral |
| US domestic Galvalume base price | ||||
| ex-Midwest mill | $37-$38 | $816-$838 | $740-$760 | neutral |
| 0.019x41.5625 Gr80/AZ55 | ||||
| ex-Midwest mill | $45-$46 | $992-$1014 | $900-$920 | neutral |