With enormous downward pricing pressure on US domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) spot prices, many mills are pushing increased production of value-added products. Consequently, coated flat steel prices have declined dramatically since last week, due to extensive price cutting and overcapacity fears. Hot dipped galvanized (HDG) and Galvalume base spot prices have slipped $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40/nt) on the low end over the past week to $38.00-$40.00 cwt. ($838-$882/mt or $760-$800/nt) ex-Midwest mill and sources have informed SteelOrbis of rumored deals slightly under the range already emerging. HDG 0.012"x40.875" G30 and HDG 0.019"x48" G90 have fallen more drastically and can now be found between $49.00-$50.00 cwt. ($1,080-$1,102/mt or $980-$1,000/nt) ex-Midwest mill.
Spot prices are likely to drop further as the month progresses, at least for a couple more weeks, due in part to import competition. Arriving imports into the US jumped from 105,762 mt (preliminary census data) in January to 145,640 mt (license data) in February according to the US Department of Commerce data, and March imports are expected to be even higher, filling up US buyers' inventories with less expensive import material.
| Cwt. | Metric Ton (mt) | Net ton (nt) | Change from last week | |
| US domestic HDG base price | $38.00-$40.00 | $838-$882 | $760-$800 | ↓ $2.00 cwt. on low end |
| 0.012"x40.875" G30 | ||||
| ex-Midwest mill | $49.00-$50.00 | $1,080-$1,102 | $980-$1,000 | ↓ $2.00 cwt. |
| 0.019"x48" G90 | ||||
| ex-Midwest mill | $49.00-$50.00 | $1,080-$1,102 | $980-$1,000 | ↓ $2.00 cwt. |
| US domestic Galvalume base price | ||||
| ex-Midwest mill | $38.00-$40.00 | $838-$882 | $760-$800 | ↓ $2.00 cwt. on low end |
| 0.019x41.5625 Gr80/AZ55 | ||||
| ex-Midwest mill | $50.00-$52.00 | $1,102-$1,146 | $1,000-$1,040 | neutral |