Although some believed that the upward price momentum within the US domestic hot dipped galvanized (HDG) and Galvalume coil markets had stalled, sources close to SteelOrbis have said the prices have nudged upward since our last report a week ago.
Todays price points are “about $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40/nt) higher than they were a week ago,” a source said, adding that he believed that higher scrap prices in August played a role. Officially, prices are up by $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40/nt) on the bottom end, and up by approximately $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) on the top end.
At current, it’s believed that scrap prices in September will trade at strong sideways, and that prices may increase by $10/gt ($10/mt) during next month’s buy cycle. Should scrap increase further, this could help push HDG prices “up a bit more, which is consistent with what we’ve been suspecting,” another source said.
However, as in previous weeks, in the absence of sustainable increases in demand, it’s still believed that spot market prices “will begin to erode again as soon as late-September, if not by the middle of October.”
Current US HDG spot market prices are listed in the chart below.
| Product | $/cwt | $/mt | $/nt | Delivery | Weekly change |
| US domestic HDG base price | $37-$38 | $816-$838 | $740-$760 | ex-mill | up $2.00 cwt. on the bottom end, up $1.00 cwt. on the top end. |
| US domestic Galvalume base price | $37-$38 | $816-$838 | $740-$760 | ex-mill | up $2.00 cwt. on the bottom end, up $1.00 cwt. on the top end. |
| 0.019x41.5625 Gr80/AZ55 | $47-$48 | $1,036-$1,058 | $940-$960 | ex-mill | up $2.00 cwt. on the bottom end, up $1.00 cwt. on the top end. |