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

U.S. Steel sues Algoma over iron pellet shipments
U.S. Steel is suing Algoma over the Canadian flat-rolled producer's rejection of iron pellet shipments, arguing it has breached its contract.

August US mill shipments slip but still higher than last year
The American Iron and Steel Institute reported a decline in the monthly shipments of US mills from July to August.

TransPod, Algoma, Supreme Steel linkup anchors Canadian steel in high-speed transit build
The three Canadian companies have announced a strategic partnership to support the development of an ultra-high-speed transit line from Edmonton to Calgary.

Metallus, USW agree to tentative four-year labor deal
Metallus and the United Steelworkers (USW) have agreed to a tentative four-year labor contract.

ArcelorMittal Dofasco resumes cokemaking after emergency maintenance
The Canadian steelmaker reported on Sept. 30 that “urgent maintenance” was needed in its coke plant off-gas systems. The work required coke oven gas from the No. 2 coke plant to be flared for most of that week.