Tight domestic supply, strong automotive demand and high raw material costs have already helped European strip steel prices balloon in Q4. But some market participants suspect the initiation of an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese hot-dipped galvanized sheet could see that market “explode.”
Strip steel prices generally are expected to remain firm for much of the first half of the year, with European mills switching their defense of higher offer prices from the burden of raw material costs, to the tightness in supply.