Prices for Galvanized Plain Sheet (HDG) grew in German market, supported by elevated hot-rolled coil (HRC) feedstock costs and suppliers attempts to market some modest increases in the deteriorating market conditions based on diminished domestic steel capacity.
The German HDG market faced upward pressure during the week ending August 22, 2025, in which prices increased by 0.5% as rising HRC feedstock prices moved through to downstream galvanized products.
Key Takeaways:
The 0.5% increase in German HDG prices demonstrated obvious price pressure on HRC, mirroring the larger European steel market. The primary feedstock for production, Northern European HRC prices, were steadily rising by €2.50 per day and €4.42 per week. Because of the cost-push situations caused by the feedstock inflation, HDG producers selectively raised their prices in order to preserve some margin.
Clear market contradictions were brought to light by the pricing environment, as buyers were only able to obtain significantly lower HDG values while suppliers were aiming for higher values. The difficult demand environment was brought to light by this misalignment, as end users continued to show resistance to premium pricing in spite of rising other related input costs.
Import competition remained in play for domestic HDG pricing with Asian suppliers remaining competitive, despite the challenges of logistics. The emergence of the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism has emerged to quantitatively determine the evolving HDG import marketplace, may yield a competitive advantage for domestic producers.
The structural issues in the domestic steel industry were further demonstrated by the 13.7% drop in German mill production in July 2025 compared to the same month the year before. Despite the underlying fundamentals of weak demand, the reduction in output capacity led to supply constraints for HDG feedstock, which mechanically supported an increasing price path.
Participants in the market noted that genuine demand fundamentals, not just cost-push, would be necessary for HDG prices to rise steadily. Unless end-user demand in the construction and automotive industries significantly improved, the current pricing environment indicated that additional HDG advancements might encounter obstacles.
According to ChemAnalyst, German HDG prices are expected to stay volatile in the short term, and feedstock HRC prices will keep pointing the direction of prices in the immediate future. Recovery is in no small part reliant on a recovery in industrial demand, better trade flow and whether the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is effective in providing domestic HDG competitiveness against Asian imports.
