Steel Products

Ultra Light Gauge Galvanized Foreign Offers: More Information

Written by John Packard

August 20, 2013

Steel Market Update had a couple of questions arise concerning our article about ultra light gauge galvanized (lighter than .015”) in Sunday evening’s Steel Market Update newsletter. In that article we referenced prices being offered as between $39.50/cwt-$41.50/cwt CIF, Duty Paid, USA Port (coating weight is G30 which we did not do a good job of identifying in our Sunday evening article).

One must remember a number of items when comparing price offers.  Two of the biggest are going to be the thickness with thinner material costing more than product purchased closer to the .015” thickness. The second item needed to consider is volume. Then we have the relationship between the buyer and seller as well as timing.

Volume – those who purchase larger volumes of products in easy widths and coil weights are better positioned to receive better pricing than those who buy limited tonnage and a wide variety of products.

Timing – being able to pull the trigger and purchase at the optimum time can sometimes make a difference.  One of our sources provided an excellent example this past week as we were collecting data. Our source advised us they got a better price than normal by providing the tons a trader needed in order to finish filling a vessel.

Relationship – a third consideration is the relationship your company has with the trading company and the producing mill.  Part of this process is how you pay your bills and how many claims does your company file.

SMU has continued to canvass the ultra light gauge market and we are finding out of the India mills the offers on .012” G30 galvanized into the east coast or gulf ports are on average $40.50/cwt-$42.00/cwt CIF, Duty Paid, the port.

Items around .015” G30 would be $.50/cwt-$.75/cwt less expensive than .012” material.

SMU went directly to one of the agents used in India for the most recent pricing data. We also checked with a number of trading companies and large buyers to confirm both our calculations and the actual offers in the market.

John Packard

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