US domestic hot dipped galvanized and Galvalume coil prices have continued to firm since our last report a week ago, although market sources believe that the market is at or near its ceiling.
“This is all cyclical and it’s nothing we haven’t seen before,” a source said. “Service centers order heavy, lead times go out and prices go up. When their deliveries arrive, they step away from the market, lead times shorten, and prices come down. Considering everyone ordered heavy at the end of August, those deliveries should be arriving any day now.”
Also of note is early speculation that US scrap prices may trend downward during November’s buy cycle. This has been further supported by recent downticks in export scrap cargo prices off the East coast.
For now, however, spot market pricing within the US HDG market remains strong. This week’s prices are listed in the chart below.
| Product | $/cwt | $/mt | $/nt | Delivery | Weekly change |
| US domestic HDG base price | $40-$42 | $882-$926 | $800-$840 | ex-mill | up $1.00 cwt. |
| US domestic Galvalume base price | $40-$42 | $882-$926 | $800-$840 | ex-mill | up $1.00 cwt. |
| 0.019x41.5625 Gr80/AZ55 | $51-$52 | $1,124-$1,146 | $1,120-$1,140 | ex-mill | up $2.00 cwt. |