Downtrending US scrap prices have placed additional downward price pressure on the US HDG coil markets. Current prices, sources note, have softened by $0.50 cwt. ($11/mt or $10/nt) since our last report a week ago, and concerns that the market has “not yet bottomed out” remain strong.
“Everyone is on the fence,” a source said. “People are afraid to commit to anything significant because no one wants to be stuck holding higher-priced inventory if prices continue to soften.”
Today’s average spot market price transaction range is approximately $4.00 cwt. ($88/mt or $80/nt) below where US HDG prices were during the first week of March 2018, days before Section 232 tariffs were announced.
Current US HDG spot market prices are listed in the chart below.
Product | $/cwt | $/mt | $/nt | Delivery | Weekly change |
US domestic HDG base price | $39-$41 | $860-$904 | $780-$820 | ex-mill | down $0.50 cwt. |
US domestic Galvalume base price | $39-$41 | $860-$904 | $780-$820 | ex-mill | down $0.50 cwt. |
0.019x41.5625 Gr80/AZ55 | $49-$51 | $1,080-$1,124 | $980-$1,020 | ex-mill | down $0.50 cwt. |