Steel Products
HRC vs. Galvanized Price Spread Widens
Written by Laura Miller
August 4, 2023
The spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and galvanized coil base prices widened over the last month as hot rolled prices declined faster than prices for galvanized product.
At the end of June, galvanized coil’s premium over HRC averaged $150 per net ton ($7.50 per cwt). That premium increased to $195 per ton in our last check of the market.
Let’s take a deeper look at how we arrived at those figures.
Figure 1 below shows SMU’s HRC and galvanized base prices as of Aug. 1.
The average HRC price slipped for a third consecutive week to $810 per ton. That’s now down $70 per ton from the beginning of July and down 30% from 2023’s peak of $1,160 per ton during the week of April 11.
Galvanized sheet base prices averaged $1,005 per ton this week, down by $25 per ton from a month ago and down $300 per ton from this year’s peak of $1,350 per ton mid-April.
The result: The average galvanized price premium over hot rolled, shown in Figure 2, rose to $195 per ton. That’s up from $150 per ton at the beginning of July and from $175 per ton at the beginning of June.
The premium had fallen as low as $140 per ton during the week of July 18, before jumping to $195 per ton the next week and then remaining at that point.
Figure 3 shows the galvanized premium over hot rolled as a percentage of the HRC price.
The premium rose to 24% as of Aug. 1, up from 17% one month earlier. It had fallen to 16% during the weeks of July 11 and July 18.
The last time the percentage of the premium was this high was in February.
You can chart historical HRC and galv prices using SMU’s interactive pricing tool found here.
Laura Miller
Read more from Laura MillerLatest in Steel Products
Final Thoughts
The difference: The spat with Turkey was a big deal for steel. This time, the 50% reciprocal tariff for Brazil – if it goes into effect as threatened on Aug.1 – hits everything from coffee and to pig iron. It seems almost custom-built to inflict as much pain as possible on Brazil.
CRU: US rebar and wire rod prices rise alongside S232 increase
CRU Senior Steel Analyst Alexandra Anderson discusses current market and pricing dynamics for long steel products in the US.
CRU: Excessive global supply could hit rebar mill investments in US
Following the onset of the war in Ukraine in March 2022, concerns about import availability and expectations of rising demand from President Biden’s Infrastructure Bill pushed US rebar prices to record highs. In response, a flurry of new mills and capacity expansions were announced to meet the rise in demand from growth in the construction […]
Steel buyer spirits tempered by soft spot market conditions
Steel sheet buyers report feeling bogged down by the ongoing stresses of stagnant demand, news fatigue, tariff negotiations or implementation timelines, and persistent macroeconomic uncertainty.
CRU: US stainless prices to rise on expanded S232 tariffs
Stainless prices in the US market will rise, following price increases by major US producers. Our base case scenario incorporates higher US prices in the near term, despite the initial negative reaction by the market. US stainless prices will go up in 2025 H2 and will stay elevated in 2026 as tariffs on stainless […]