US import HDG prices increase despite static activity

As mentioned in our last report a week ago, Chinese mills have increased their offer prices to the US on hot dipped galvanized (HDG) and Galvalume products, and Chinese sales prices in the US are now up by approximately $0.50 cwt. ($11/mt or $10/nt) from last week. Trader sources report a decent amount of import inquiries over the past couple weeks from Chinese sources--as well as Indian and Taiwanese--but not many of the inquiries are translating into actual orders because US buyers anticipate that falling US domestic spot prices have not yet hit bottom.

Expectedly, reports that US buyers booked considerable HDG volumes offshore in November and December of last year have proved accurate and US Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data indicate that through February 22, the US has imported 125,610 mt (license data) of HDG sheet and strip compared to 105,762 mt (preliminary census data) arriving in January. The increase was led by India, from which 41,066 mt of HDG have arrived so far this month, a nearly four-fold increase from January.

**DDP loaded truck delivered into Houston