Last week, hot rolled coil futures traded with a fluctuating upward bias, providing a boost to market sentiment and prompting a slight rise in galvanized sheet and coil prices. However, actual trading data indicates that the price increase failed to effectively stimulate demand; sales of higher-priced stock faced significant resistance, while transactions for lower-priced material were driven primarily by essential needs, resulting in overall trading volume falling short of expectations. According to the SunSirs commodity market analysis system, the domestic average price for galvanized sheet and coil stood at 4,120.00 RMB/ton as of August 21, marking a slight increase of 0.18% compared to the week before last.

Fundamentals: Demand for galvanized sheet and coil remained sluggish last week; most traders reported lackluster sales, noting that the slight uptick in volume was driven primarily by speculative buying from middlemen rather than a significant rise in actual procurement by end-users. Feedback from traders indicates that end-user purchasing remains focused on immediate needs, with little appetite for bulk stocking, leaving the market without the support of sustained transaction volume. As the traditional August off-season draws to a close, traders are maintaining a cautious ordering strategy, keeping volumes largely unchanged from the previous month. With the next ordering cycle approaching, high costs set by steel mills are meeting with limited market acceptance; consequently, some traders may reduce order volumes, potentially leading to a shortfall in orders received by the mills.

According to the latest data from SunSirs, the overall operating rate for galvanized sheet production last week stood at 89.32%. The capacity utilization rate was 65.71%, down 0.28% from the week before last. Weekly production was 1.1607 million tonnes, a decrease of 5,000 tonnes from the week before last. Steel mill inventories stood at 680,600 tonnes, down 3,600 tonnes from the week before last; social inventories were 1.6026 million tonnes, up 3,700 tonnes; and total inventories were 2.2832 million tonnes, an increase of 100 tonnes.

Regarding costs, major steel mills in the Shanghai region reportedly announced their settlement policies last week; the settlement price for galvanized sheet coils upon arrival remained unchanged from the previous period at 4,113 RMB/ton.

Industry Trends: Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that China's crude steel output in July 2026 was 76.93 million tonnes, down 3.6% year-on-year. Cumulative output for the January-July period totaled 577.04 million tonnes, a year-on-year decrease of 3.1%.

Market Outlook:

Overall, given the high procurement costs for steel mills and low market acceptance, SunSirs anticipates that the prices of galvanized steel coils will fluctuate within a narrow range in the short term.

SunSirs has been continuously tracking price data for over 200 commodities for nearly 20 years, please contact support@sunsirs.com for subscription.