Futures

Hot Rolled and Galvanized Price Spread Shrinks Further

Written by Laura Miller

June 30, 2023

As sheet prices continued to decline throughout June, the spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and galvanized coil base prices also shrank further.

Recall that at the end of May, the galvanized premium over hot-rolled coil (HRC) averaged $175 per ton.

As of this week, that premium had fallen to $150 per ton.

Let’s look at the numbers further.

Figure 1 below shows SMU’s HRC and galvanized base prices as of June 27.

The average HRC price was unchanged this week at $875 per ton. That’s down 11.6% from $990 per ton the last week of May and down 24.6% from the highest point so far this year of $1,160 per ton during the week of April 11.

For galvanized sheet, the average price registered $1,025 per ton this week, down 12% from the last week of May and down 24% from this year’s peak of $1,350 per ton mid-April.

06.29.23 HRC Galv Spread 1

Highlighted in Figure 2, the average galvanized price premium over hot rolled fell to $150 per ton this week. That’s down from $175 per ton the last week of May and $205 per ton the last week of April.

That $150-per-ton figure is the lowest the premium has been in 16 weeks. We have to go back to the week of March 7 to see a lower premium – $100 per ton – and that’s the lowest the premium has been in about two years.

06.30.23 HRC Galv Spread 2

Figure 3 shows the galvanized premium over hot rolled as a percentage of the HRC price.

The premium fell to 17% this week, down one percentage point from a month ago. The premium as a percentage has been fairly steady since March.

06.29.23 HRC Galv Spread 3

By Laura Miller, laura@steelmarketupdate.com

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. She has held a variety of positions within the steel industry since 2007, including reporting and editing for Steel Business Briefing/Platts, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, and Kallanish Commodities, as well as marketing for what was then known as ThyssenKrupp Steel USA (now AM/NS Calvert). After a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel in 2021 and has covered the flat rolled, tubular, and trade areas of the industry. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.

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