During the week ending May 31, the Chinese domestic pre-painted galvanized iron (PPGI) market has continued to decline. Average PPGI prices in the Chinese market can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
Owing to slack demand, Chinese domestic PPGI prices have not shown any sign of improvement but instead have maintained their soft trend. Towards the end of May, the abundance of new arrivals of low-priced PPGI materials has greatly increased the downward pressure on the market.
With the ongoing downtrend of recent months, traders are less confident about the future and are keeping their inventories at low levels. Although some PPGI producers have halted production, others are planning to expand their outputs. Local PPGI prices are not likely to recover until the pressure on the supply side eases.
At present, some steel mills, both in the private sector and state-owned, are incurring significant losses. It is expected that Chinese domestic PPGI prices will continue to move down in the short term.