Spot market prices for US domestic hot dipped galvanized and Galvalume coil have ticked down again, week-over-week, as short lead times and still-falling raw materials prices continue to impact the market.
This week, spot market pricing for both products has softened by an additional $3.00 cwt ($66/mt or $60/nt), to $73-$75 cwt. ($1,609-$1,653/mt or $1,460-$1,500/nt), FOB mill, against a range of $76-$78 cwt. ($1,676-$1,720/mt or $1,520-$1,560/nt), FOB mill, a week ago. This week’s pricing puts base-price HDG and Galvalume prices below where they were in late-February, before Russia invaded Ukraine.
“Lead times are as short as six weeks, and raw materials prices, both in the US and across the globe, have been tanking,” a source said, noting that it’s expected that US busheling scrap prices are likely to fall by $50-$100/gt in July. “Prices for everything went haywire back in early March when the mills started panicking about a raw materials shortage, and buyers started to worry that they wouldn’t be able to get their steel. Now that the panic is over, the global markets are resetting.”
