Steel Markets

Canadian Trading Company Forecasting Higher Import Prices

September 15, 2013

Steel Market Update got the following from a steel trading company located in Canada:

China has had 3 months of increases on galvanized, Galvalume and cold rolled coil. They expect another $15.00/MT increase with offers for Nov. rolling. (These will be announced 18-20 Sept).

Taiwan is sticking to achieving higher than market price. Buyers are buying based on quality and consistency. Mills are booking strongly and the concern is going to be allocation in the 2nd quarter 2014. $ 940-$960 Prepainted Galvalume/Prepainted Galvanized, $740-$750 bare galvanized and Galvalume.

Korean mills are all over the place…seems prices in the US market are higher by $50.00 than the prices in the Canadian market.

Light gauge galvanized .010” – .015” are limited offers for this market, not sure what India is doing in the USA, but most suppliers for this size in our market is Taiwan and Japan. Prices are high.

Wuhan mill from China did have some cowboys offering their material at silly low prices, but they have since dispersed and stopped doing silly things.

Our forecast is for an upswing in the early part of 2014 and a steady increase throughout the year. I feel mill prices will increase after Q1 2014 and we may see some tightening of quality products from reliable sources.