The weeks-long downtrend for US domestic HDG and Galvalume coil hasn’t ended yet, sources note, adding that market players continue to wonder when, and where the market will bottom out.
Current base-price US domestic HDG and Galvalume prices are trending at $59-$62 cwt. ($1,301-$1,367/mt or $1,180-$1,240/nt), FOB mill, against a range of $61-$64 cwt. ($1,345-$1,411/mt or $1,220-$1,280/nt), FOB mill, a week ago.
Spot market prices for base-price HDG and Galvalume coil are down by an astonishing 39% since the first week of January, when the average price point for both products was trending at approximately $99 cwt. ($2,183/mt or $1,980/nt), FOB mill.
Lead times continue to hover at 4-5 weeks, although some sources say that some deliveries are being quoted at 6 weeks.
“The past 2.5 years have been nothing short of insane, as we’ve seen an unprecedented rising and falling of prices,” a source said. “It’s been a wild ride. But now that the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seem to finally be settling, it appears as if we’re coming out of this roller-coaster atmosphere and are returning to normal business conditions.”
The big question now, he continued, is where the “new normal” base pricing will be.
Between December 2018 and the start of the pandemic, pricing for HDG and Galvalume coil trended between $37-$42 cwt. ($816-$926/mt or $740-$840/nt), FOB mill. Although few believe that spot market prices will return to that range, it is believed that some additional price softening is on the horizon.
