Is the US import HDG flood finally over?

US import tonnages of hot dipped galvanized (HDG) and Galvalume coil trended have continue to trend high in recent months, as many US-based buyers rushed to book last-minute orders before the US DOC approved trade case action against China, Italy, India and Korea and Taiwan; and while Chinese import tonnages are off starkly, as referenced by the 1,622 (license data) Chinese HDG tons that were unloaded at US Port docks in October, US import tons from Taiwanese producers in October were tallied at 38,672, reflecting an increase of 25,446 mt over license-data levels reported in September.  Indian mills also reflected a month-on-month increase; October import tons from that country were tallied at 24,351 mt (license data), which reflects an incease of 21,286 mt over license-data levels reported in September.

Brazilian tonnages have also increased drastically.  In May, Brazilian import tons were tallied at 3,693 mt (census data), while for the month of October, Brazilian import tons of HDG coil were tallied at 32,063 mt (license data).  Many buyers, however, expect to see a stark drop off in import ton totals for November, as August order placement of US import HDG coil began to taper due to trade case action that was pending at that time.