Galvanized steel prices and demand remain stagnant in July: HARDI 

SMU provides sheet updates to the council of wholesalers, service centers, distributors, and manufacturers who buy or sell galvanized steel at each month’s call.  

One metals wholesale supplier on Tuesday’s call noticed how competitive moving steel has become. 

“It seems like the market is getting a little bit more aggressive to try to get those order books going. I feel there’s some opportunities on the spot side, maybe beyond contract numbers,” he said. 

The same supplier noted, “Supply is really loose. There are mill suppliers, service center suppliers, and everyone’s all trying to move steel right now so buyers can find it anywhere. Demand remains decent in our markets. Some branches of the business are positive and others are negative compared to last year.” 

A Midwestern-based supplier said his market experiences in July have been similar. 

“I’m pretty much in line with what’s been said. What we’ve seen is a fairly flat market. Up one week and down the next with no real changes to speak of,” the second supplier explained. “This has led to softer demand, and competitive situations that we’re not accustomed to seeing in this type of environment.”

The second supplier then cited US tariff policy as a continuous source of market uncertainty.  

“I think it’s [demand softening] all due to tariffs. It seems like the tariffs would have some directional momentum to them, but it seems like people are mystified as to what is ever really going to happen,” he said.  

One large-scale metals service center executive’s feedback aligns with the other suppliers.  

“At a high level, as others have said, it’s pretty quiet but fairly steady. We’re seeing most prices rangebound,” he noted. “Commodity item prices are drifting toward the lower end of the range, as is typical when pockets of demand aren’t as strong and multiple players are fighting for a smaller piece of the pie.” 

His analysis was that buyers are still extremely cautious and will remain so in the short term. 

He commented that would be the case “at least until something changes. I think we’re going to see signs that a setup could be in play for a more active and potentially tighter market as we move further into the third and then fourth quarters; especially on the cost side.”

The executive added: “Input costs could increase as the Aug. 1, scrap tariff applied by Canada and Mexico goes through.” 

If input prices for mills increase as the result of the tariffs on scrap and Brazilian pig iron, mills could raise prices. The executive wonders whether rising mill costs aligned with input increases might stimulate purchases from conservative buyers with leaner inventories.  

At the close of the call, an informal poll showed that half of participants anticipate prices will remain relatively flat, +/-~$2/cwt for the next 30 days, 10% believes prices will be up over $2/cwt in a month. Meanwhile, 30% felt that prices would climb by more than $4/cwt. The remaining 10% expect prices will drop below the $2/cwt range. Sixty-seven percent of participants expect base prices to increase by more than $2/cwt in the next six months. Most callers expect prices to stay flat a year from now, remaining in the $50s/cwt range. 

SMU participates in a monthly steel conference call hosted by HARDI and dedicated to better understanding the galvanized steel market. The participants are HARDI member companies, wholesalers who supply products to the construction markets. Also on the call are service centers and manufacturing companies that either buy or sell galvanized sheet and coil products used in the HVAC industry and are suppliers to HARDI member companies.