The price of galvanized coil is on the rise nationwide, with a general willingness to replenish stocks before the holiday (April 24-30)

This week, the prices of galvanized steel coils nationwide have shown an upward trend. Driven by the increase in hot coil prices, production enterprises have faced higher raw material procurement costs, necessitating an active increase in the ex-factory prices of galvanized steel coils. However, actual shipments by market traders have struggled to follow suit, with only gradual adjustments. The primary focus remains on transactional shipments. Additionally, with the upcoming May Day holiday and the market price increase trend, some downstream customers have made minor restocking efforts, but not actively, primarily opting for procurement on demand.

Regarding specific prices, this week, galvanized coil prices in mainstream markets in Shanghai and Lecong have increased by 10 yuan/ton, while prices in other markets such as Zhengzhou, Shenyang, and Harbin in the north have risen by 40 yuan/ton. The national average price is 3,963 yuan/ton, marking a weekly increase of 13 yuan/ton.

On the supply side, according to survey data this week, the overall operating rate of galvanized coil production enterprises nationwide is 91.91%, with a capacity utilization rate of 68.69%, an increase of 0.9% compared to last week; weekly production is 1.2134 million tons, an increase of 16,000 tons compared to last week; steel mill inventories are 612,300 tons, a decrease of 8,500 tons compared to last week; social inventories are 1.5581 million tons, a decrease of 13,500 tons compared to last week; total inventories are 2.1704 million tons, a decrease of 22,000 tons compared to last week. This week, the capacity utilization rate of galvanized coil has shown an upward trend, and production continues to climb, but inventories have still declined, gradually reducing market inventory pressure.

From a macro perspective, the purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector in April stood at 50.3%, slightly 0.1 percentage points lower than the previous month, yet still within the expansionary range. The nationwide increase in galvanized coil prices this week is primarily attributed to the firming of raw material hot coil prices and the scarcity of market resources. From the demand side, downstream purchasing customers have shown only moderate willingness, making it difficult to close deals at high prices. It is anticipated that the market may face a risk of decline after the holiday.