[SMM Steel] Off-Season Slump and Low-Priced Alternatives Drive Hot-Rolled Galvanized Steel Prices Down
[Thailand] Recently, the Thai hot-rolled galvanized steel market has been deeply dragged down by traditional off-season factors, with overall transaction performance remaining sluggish and transaction prices showing a pronounced month-on-month decline trend. In terms of pricing and competition, the market has been strongly impacted by low-priced zinc-aluminum-magnesium coated steel orders. According to SMM survey, their offer levels have been pushed down to 585-590 USD/tonne, causing diversion and a price collapse for normal hot-rolled galvanized steel export channels and pricing. In the short term, the off-season effect is expected to continue to overshadow the market, with hot-rolled galvanized steel price weakness difficult to reverse; a substantive market recovery may have to wait until August and September, when the off-season gradually ends and the demand side may finally see more evident improvement and signs of recovery.