The official findings with the US Department of Commerce’s Section 232 investigation are still not known, but some news outlets are reporting that DOC Secretary Wilbur Ross recommended a wide range of options to deal with steel dumping in the US, which include but are not limited to targeting “bad actor” steel mills in countries that are active in shipping steel to the US and the implementation of higher tariffs.
Reuters, however is indicating that the prospect of broad tariffs against steel imports has been the subject of spirited debate, as using “national security concerns” to implement such tariffs could spur an international trade war, in addition to possibly damaging the growing US economy.
“The biggest problem we have now is that we don’t know what we don’t know,” a Texas-based source said. “There is so much speculation about what may or may not happen it’s hard to sort through all the noise.”
For now, however, activity within the US import hot dipped galvanized (HDG) and Galvalume coil markets remains robust on the heels of higher domestic pricing and widespread speculation that another price increase is forthcoming.
The most recently heard pricing for US import HDG is listed in the chart below.
0.012”x40.875” G30 HDG coil | cwt. | metric ton | net ton | change since last week | |
UAE / Turkey / Vietnam | $45-$47 | $992-$1036 | $900-$940 | DDP loaded truck in US Gulf coast ports | neutral |
South Africa | $47-$48 | $1036-$1058 | $940-$960 | DDP loaded truck in US Gulf coast ports | neutral |
0.019x41.5625 Gr80/AZ55 Galvalume | |||||
Brazil / Vietnam | $46-$48 | $1014-$1058 | $920-$960 | DDP loaded truck in US Gulf coast ports | neutral |
Taiwan | $50-$51 | $1102-$1124 | $1000-$1020 | DDP loaded truck in US Gulf coast ports | neutral |