Negotiations by Japanese mills for hot-dip galvanized steel sheets for Asia with shipment in May have almost peaked. Hot-dip galvanized products, like galvanized , have a stable demand in the spring-summer period. The contract prices for April have been settled. Meanwhile, prices can go up to $ 10 for some customers.
In the Asian region GI sheets are sold for 740-750 CFR dollars. At the same time, customers prefer to import cheaper galvanized sheets from China. Under these circumstances, Japanese factories are fighting a tough fight. However, they have succeeded in raising prices by about $ 10 in recent times.
The product range of Japanese factories is generally 0.13 - 0.14 mm thick. Although, as with the 2mm thickness, many manufactures around the world compete with each other at below $ 680 CFR. However, only Indian factories other than Japanese ones produce thin GI sheets. Therefore, if Japanese factories get customers, they will be able to maintain a certain price level.
By the way, the question concerns Nigeria. It is the main negotiating country for Japanese factories in the African region, but the government of that country has decided to raise its import duty on cold steel sheets /coils from 5% to 35%. The exact timeline for implementation has not been determined, so this can happen at any time. The government is trying to protect its domestic cold rolling mill. The main export negotiations to this country will focus on hot-dip galvanized steel coils.
