Research

Forecasts and market analysis based on price assessments from Fastmarkets MB and Fastmarkets AMM

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May 2013 | Galvanized Steel and Tinplate Market Tracker


US HDG prices continue to erode amid tepid economic growth: American Market Highlights


MBR believes that further price erosion is possible given the continued fragile economic recovery, not just domestically but also globally.

Not only did the US HDG mills once again fail to get a well needed price increase, but prices continue to deteriorate with base prices drifting down slightly to $660-$700/short ton, down from $680-$720/ton a month ago with chronic oversupply and lackluster increases in demand shrinking domestic lead times to four to six weeks with a number of instances of material being available even quicker than that.

MBR believes that further price erosion is possible given the continued fragile economic recovery, not just domestically but also globally. For certain products, particularly lighter gauge material, import offers have become increasingly plentiful and attractive, so attractive that they have begun to tempt even the still very risk-averse steel service centres. It isn’t that distributors are taking any large positions, but they have at least modestly increased their purchases of imported steel and continue, as a whole, to buy...

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