Steel Mills
Hot Rolled and Galvanized Price Spread Narrows
January 25, 2023
The spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and galvanized coil base prices has narrowed week over week, but has hovered around the $200-per-ton range since the end of November.
Figure 1 shows both SMU’s hot rolled and galvanized prices.
SMU’s HRC price averaged $760 per ton ($38 per cwt) as of Tuesday, Jan. 24, an increase from $740 per ton ($37 per cwt) one week earlier and $685 per ton ($34.25 per cwt) at the end of December.
Our latest galvanized price index averaged $950 per ton ($47.50 per cwt) Tuesday, up from $940 per ton ($47 per cwt) a week earlier and $885 per ton ($44.25 per cwt) a month ago.
Figure 2 details the premium of the galvanized price over hot rolled, according to SMU data.
The premium this week is $190 per ton, down from $200 per ton a week earlier and at the end of December.
We calculated the galvanized price premium over hot rolled as a percentage of hot-rolled prices, as shown in Figure 3. This is an attempt to paint a clearer comparison against historical pricing data.
The latest premium stands at 25% vs. 27% last week and 29% at the end of 2022.
By Ethan Bernard, ethan@steelmarketupdate.com
Latest in Steel Mills
USW seeks clarity on plans for Granite City Works
The United Steelworkers union has asked U.S. Steel to elaborate on its Granite City Works plans following reports that the steelmaker is ending processing at the facility.
Nucor maintains plate prices, opens October order book
Nucor aims to keep plate prices flat for a seventh straight month with the opening of its October order book.
ArcelorMittal Mexico to import from sister mills as it works to resume DRI production
ArcelorMittal has partially restarted operations at its direct reduction plant in Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan. An explosion on Aug. 18 rocked the massive steelworks on Mexico’s Pacific coast, impacting production of direct-reduced iron (DRI).
Fall maintenance outages are coming in hot
Labor Day has passed, the sun is starting to set a little earlier each day, and cooler weather has begun to find its way down to many of us across North America. And you know what that means for the steel industry… Fall maintenance outages!
AISI: Domestic steel production ticks up
US raw steel production ticked up in the week ending on Sept. 6 after a decrease the week before, according to the most recent data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).