After falling throughout July, import offer prices of hot dipped galvanized (HDG) and Galvalume coil have steadied over the past week. With local steel prices in China, Taiwan and India weakening the last few months amid extremely low demand, the offshore mills dropped offer prices to the US significantly in order to reignite import activity from US customers. Chinese prices, in particular, had registered the largest declines, with offers for HDG 0.012"x40.875" G30 dropping to $40.00-$41.00 cwt. ($882-$904/mt or $800-$820/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports. Recent increases in the US domestic market for the same product put Chinese prices for December delivery as much as $6.00-$7.00 cwt. ($132-$154/mt or $120-$140/nt) below US spots, enough of a disparity to attract a few orders.
Indian and Taiwanese mills have also experienced improved activity over the last week and have therefore not been forced to drop prices any further. Traders believe that with the current spread between US domestic and import offers, import prices are likely to stabilize for the next couple weeks until the market's long term trend becomes clearer. However, it is unlikely the import prices will follow US prices upward, as domestic prices in the Far East and India remain soft.
| Cwt. | Metric ton (mt) | Net ton (nt) | Change from last week | |
| Import HDG offers to the US | ||||
| 0.012"x40.875" G30 | ||||
| India* | $41.50-$42.50 | $915-$937 | $830-$850 | neutral |
| China* | $40-$41 | $882-$904 | $800-$820 | neutral |
| Mexico** | $42-$43 | $926-$948 | $840-$860 | neutral |
| 0.019" x 48" G90 | ||||
| China* | $43-$44 | $948-$970 | $860-$880 | neutral |
| India* | $43.50-$44.50 | $959-$981 | $870-$890 | neutral |
| Import Galvalume offers to the US | ||||
| 0.019x41.5625 Gr80/AZ55 | ||||
| Taiwan* | $45-$46 | $992-$1,014 | $900-$920 | neutral |
| Mexico** | $44-$46 | $970-$1,014 | $880-$920 | neutral |
| China* | $46-$47 | $1,014-$1,036 | $920-$940 | neutral |
**DDP loaded truck delivered into Houston