US domestic hot dipped galvanized and Galvalume coil prices have continued to firm since our last report a week ago, with prices moving up $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) for base price HDG and Galvalume spot market transactions.
“The pricing rally hasn’t ended, and it seems to still have some legs to it,” a source said. “The mills are saying they’re booked solid, and maybe this is the one time where [producers] were restrained and didn’t ramp production up too much too fast.”
Others note that November scrap prices, which were predicted to trend downward as recently as last week, may now trend sideways. If scrap prices do come down, another source notes, mills will have a hard time keeping finished steel prices steady. “I think we’ll see sideways on scrap in November, and if the scrap yards get their way, because they see what they’re selling scrap for, and what mills’ profits are, they may try to push for up.”
Others, still, point out that “what goes up must come down,” adding that “while prices are high now, if historical precedent still holds, prices will shift backward, in a hard way, once the rally ends.”
“At this point it’s just a lot of wait and see, and I guess we’ll all have to stay tuned to find out what happens next,” he concluded.
This week’s prices are listed in the chart below.
| Product | $/cwt | $/mt | $/nt | Delivery | Weekly change |
| US domestic HDG base price | $41-$43 | $904-$948 | $820-$860 | ex-mill | up $1.00 cwt. |
| US domestic Galvalume base price | $41-$43 | $904-$948 | $820-$860 | ex-mill | up $1.00 cwt. |
| 0.019x41.5625 Gr80/AZ55 | $51-$52 | $1,124-$1,146 | $1,020-$1,040 | ex-mill | neutral |