May 9 data from the US Department of Commerce indicates that for the month of March, the US imported 166,721 mt (census data) of hot dipped galvanized sheets and strip from global sources, which reflects an approximate a 35 percent reduction from the 255,125 mt of HDG sheets and strip (census data) that was imported in March 2018.
April 2019 import license data reflects 193,785 mt, which, should the trend sustain into final tonnage results, would reflect a 39 percent reduction over census data import tonnages reported in April 2018.
“If buyers can get what they need from the domestic mills, they’re buying domestic,” a source said. “A lot of it ties to soft prices in the US, a bunch of it ties to long offshore lead times and import prices that are almost identical compared to US offers.”
Current prices from offshore sources in the US domestic market are listed in the chart below.
| 0.012”x40.875” G30 HDG coil | $/cwt | $/mt | $/nt | Weekly change | Delivery |
| Egypt | $49-$50 | $1,080-$1,102 | $980-$1,000 | neutral | DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports |
| Vietnam, UAE, Mexico | $50+ | $1,102+ | $1,000+ | neutral | DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports |
| Galvalume coil 0.019x41.5625 Gr80/AZ55 | |||||
| Mexico | $49-$51 | $1,080-$1,124 | $980-$1,020 | neutral | FOB Houston |