Spot market prices for US domestic base-price HDG and Galvalume coil are “mostly steady” within the past seven days, however, sources close to SteelOrbis report that prices for all flat rolled steel products, including US domestic HDG and Galvalume coil, “continue to waffle.”
Lead times are trending at approximately 6 weeks.
“Prices are bouncing up and down in the same range that they’ve generally been in for the past couple of weeks, although I’m not sure how long that’s going to last,” a source said. “Right now, there’s lot of capacity that’s still offline for maintenance, and even with those tons out of the market, lead times are short, and prices are soft.”
A second source agreed.
“I think we’re more likely to see prices come down a bit more before the end of the year than we are to see prices go back up,” he said. “Based on what’s going on in the market, and the fact that we’re just weeks away from Thanksgiving and Christmas, I just don’t see any scenario in which this thing starts to turn itself around anytime soon.”
(Also, of note is that earlier today, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that for the week ending October 29, 2022, that the nation’s weekly raw steel production fell by 0.4% from the previous week. The current week’s production reflects a 9.4% drop from the same reporting period last year.)
Current prices for both products continue to be heard at approximately $46-$47 cwt. ($1,014-$1,036/mt or $920-$940/nt), FOB mill. However, sources have reported that deals below this range have been heard based on tonnage.