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    Analysis

    August 30, 2021

    Final Thoughts

    Written by Michael Cowden

    We often talk a lot about hot-rolled coil prices in Final Thoughts. I’d like to take a deeper dive into coated prices today.

    It’s been an almost straight line up for an entire year for flat-rolled steel prices. And galvanized is no exception. Galvanized base prices are at $2,070 per ton ($103.50 per cwt). That’s nearly double $1,085 per ton at the beginning of the year and more than triple a 2020 low – recorded last summer – of $640 per ton. But it’s down $25 per ton from last week – and “down” is not something we’re used to saying anymore.

    Michael Cowden

    Michael Cowden is editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.

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