Top 5 Factors affecting the price of Prepainted Galvanized Steel

I. The Base of Price Fluctuation Upstream Raw Material Costs. 

More than 60% of the total cost of pre-coated galvanized steel comes down to raw materials costs, which are the leading factor in price. 

There is thus direct charge to the final product in case of price fluctuations in the raw materials, which leads to so-called cost-driven price changes. 

The key raw material of pre-coated galvanized steel is the base surface material, zinc ingots, and the organic component. The links between the price change of these three components form a cost base. The main base substrate, as a carrier of pre-coated galvanized steel, is hot-dip galvanized steel (approximately 68% of the market). Its price is closely related to the steel market, it is mainly influenced by smelting raw materials such as iron ore and coke. 

Zhuochuang Information observed that iron ore falls since 2025, coke pricing was still kept low, leading the cost of hot-dip metal substrates was 59 yuan/ton lower than at the beginning of the year, which means the production cost of the pre-coated metal steel was reduced. 

Simultaneously, differences in substrate material also lead to cost differentiation as well; the price difference between cold-rolled and hot-rolled substrates becomes greater, and high-end galvanized aluminum substrates cost more than ordinary hot-dip galvanized substrates, widening the price gradient of pre-coated galvanized steel more. 

The galvanizing process is dependent on global supply and demand, mine production, international trade, to name a few conditions; thus, zinc ingots are the main raw material that is used to produce the primary elements in the process, creating extreme fluctuations in the price of zinc ingots. Escalating zinc ingot prices increase the cost of the galvanizing process directly as well. 

So, if the market availability of zinc ingots are limited (it depends), the cost of the galvanized layer goes up between 15% to 25%, directly resulting in the price increase of pre-coated galvanized steel. Moreover, organic coatings are a prominent raw material used in the pre-coating process, and petrochemical companies strongly affect these types of chemical products. These price changes in the raw materials for polyester and fluorocarbon coatings and the increased costs of replacing environmentally friendly coatings will indirectly impact the final price of pre-coated galvanized steel. 

II. New Variables in Industrial Upgrading of Production Process and Environmental Costs. 

The pre-coated galvanized steel production process includes several stages: substrate treatment, galvanizing, pre-coating, and curing. Production changes and environmental protection costs have become some of the most significant price variable that affect the industry, especially for the green transformation of the industry, where the weight of environmental costs continues to increase.

 Product added value and production costs are directly related to differences in production processes. Although the cost of roller coating processes is lower, product coating is not uniformly coated and weather resistant. 

Although new processes (like high precision digital spraying, chromium-free passivation and low-temperature curing) may offer some improvements in product quality and cater to high-end applications, the required equipment investment, energy usage and R&D expenses are dramatically increased. This means pre-coated galvanized steel manufactured using these new technologies is 10%-20% pricier than the legacy products created.

 Additionally, the thickness of the galvanized layer and the number of coating layers have an impact on costs; greater zinc content on the zinc layer and more coating layers (three-layer or four-layer coatings, for example) mean better corrosion resistance and therefore more expensive costs. Tightening environmental policies are driving up environmental costs as an important factor in industry restructuring and price adjustments. 

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment in recent years called for the steel industry to make ultra-low emission upgrades in order to control VOCs (volatile organic compounds) emissions during pre-coating production. This in turn drives companies to upgrade treatment facilities so they can replace old ones with greener alternatives. 

By the conclusion of 2024, the number of pre-coated steel manufacturers countrywide upgrades of VOC-treatment facilities reached over 60 as of the end of the year (The China Iron and Steel Association, n.d.), with investment exceeding a total of over 3.5 billion yuan total. The intensity of unit product carbon emission dropped by around 18%. The above environmental benefits will then be converted into a cost benefit ratio for products, causing the price of pre-coated galvanized steel to increase slightly.

III. Market Supply and Demand Pattern: Direct Driver of Price Changes. 

Supply and demand dictate changes price-wise to price fluctuations inside a market economy. But the price trends of pre-coated galvanized steel are always close to their supply–demand equilibrium line, and the supply–demand pattern is affected by a variety of factors including capacity growth, downstream demand, and stock capacity. 

From the supply side, the total market supply is directly influenced by capacity layout and industry competition. In the past few years, giants like Baosteel, Ansteel and private sector companies like Tianjin Xinyu and Suzhou Yangtze River have increased capacity optimization speed. 

The national precoated steel capacity is projected to increase from 28 million tons in 2026 to over 35 million tons in 2030, with regions such as East China and South China still the main area of capacity expansion. 

Overcapacity will create more intense market competition on the part of businesses — so much competition that to acquire market share they will reduce prices. By way of example, in the fourth quarter of 2025, the average price of pre-coated galvanized steel products was below the same period in 2024. The underlying cause is the oversupply pressure through raised production and low demand at the same time. 

In addition, the price strategies of prominent companies have an impact on market price trends; changing order guidance prices of major producers, such as Baowu, has a major contributing role in setting national market prices. On the demand side, the prosperity of downstream industries directly affects the overall demand and its composition. The construction industry is the largest market for pre-coated galvanized steel (which accounts nearly 62%) and the trend of real estate investment, affordable housing construction and urban renewal projects influences demand directly. 

Demand in home appliances (about 22%) is intimately aligned with the return from recession and the high-end development of the home appliance market, as there is a growing demand for weather-resistant pre-coated galvanized steel for consumer-grade inverter air conditioning and smart refrigerators. The rapid growth in new energy demand becomes also considered a new growth point. Demand for pre-coated galvanized steel in categories like photovoltaic brackets and energy storage cabinets climbed 22.4 percent year-on-year in 2024, forcing up prices of expensive goods. Conversely, when demand from downstream industries is tight, inadequate market demand results in product stocking and hence reduced prices. Levels of inventory serve as a “reservoir” and act as a balance between short term demand and supply. Due to the impact of inventory as accumulation, Zhuochuang Information, that resulted (as of December 2025), galvanized sheet and coil inventory in December 2025 stood at 995,900 tons, which was in excess of 68,500 tons from a year-beginning basis, which could limit the rebound of prices. 

Conversely, in the absence of inventory, companies have substantial leverage, and prices are more probable to increase and less likely to decrease.

 IV. The Policies, Regulations and Industry Standards: A Developmentary Framework for Market Development.

By directing industrial development and constraining market order, policies, regulations and industry standards indirectly affect the price shaping process of pre-coated galvanized steel. 

n particular, changes of industrial policies, environmental policies, import and export policies and industry standards play a long-term and guiding role on price. 

At the level of Industrial Policy, implementing Deep "Dual Carbon" strategy under the industrial policy is driving the industry towards green and high-end transformation. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "Work Plan for Stabilizing Growth in the Steel Industry (2023-2024)" has established the development of high-strength, corrosion-resistant and long-life coated steel plates, promotes the establishment of green factories and advances with rising investment in high-end product R&D. The benefits of the higher-end pre-coated galvanized steel are showing little by little. 

And at the same time, policy-driven projects like affordable housing and public infrastructure construction for regular use and for emergency use also maintain stable demand for low-end pre-coated galvanized steel, giving it the stability in price. In terms of import and export policies, changes in international trade patterns bring about distortions of balance in the supply and demand levels of domestic and foreign markets.

 In recent years, a transitional period on the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) has been observed and pre-coated galvanized steel exported from China to the EU is adding pressure on carbon costs. Increased export costs have led some export products into the domestic market, causing domestic supply to be more constrained. On the contrary, the import tariffs, trade frictions affect directly the import price, and in turn the domestic prices.

 In 2024, exports of China's pre-coated steel plates to foreign countries amounted to 3.2 million tons, increase a year-on-year 14.3%, and domestic prices were affected some ways by the changes in the export market, according to the General Administration of Customs of China. The improvement of industry standards due to standards updates, changes, and iteration can indirectly bring about increased production costs. 

Green product evaluation standard for pre-coated steel plates, applied as of 2023, and revised green product evaluation standard for pre-coated steel plate, being now under revised, integrates the whole life cycle carbon footprint and recyclability into the evaluation system, and forces enterprises to improve the ecological performance of their products, increase R&D and production and drive product prices of reasonable amount. 

V. Macroeconomics and the International Environment: External Factors Affecting Price Fluctuations. 

As a basic raw material, the price of pre-coated galvanized steel closely affects, in particular, the macroeconomic and commodity market cycles. External factors such as macroeconomic and international environment changes impacts the price of pre-coated galvanized steel indirectly on both upstream and downstream industry. From a macroeconomic perspective, the domestic economic growth and the scale of fixed asset investment impact directly the total demand of the industry. 

During a recovery phase in the economy, fixed asset investment expands due to favorable conditions in construction and manufacturing resulting in high pre-coated galvanized steel demand and high prices. 

On the other hand, if economic growth slows and fixed asset investment slows, downstream demand softens, and downward pressure on prices follows. For example, for 2023, China's GDP grew 5.2% y.o.y, signaling a moderate recovery in the Chinese economy, which boosted pre-coated steel sheet usage for construction at 4.7%, a factor supportive of resilient product prices. 

At the same time, the monetary and fiscal policy adjustments also affect market liquidity, which influence corporate production, operations, and price. When it comes to the international environment, we also consider the influence of global economic growth, world commodity prices, and foreign exchange rate changes. Changes to Federal Reserve interest rates shape world capital movements and, in turn, prices of raw materials, such as zinc ingots and iron ore, indirectly affect production costs of pre-coated galvanized steel. A poor global economic recovery would mean that not enough international market demand has been established, which will have an impact on China's exports of pre-coated galvanized steel and therefore have effects on Chinese domestic supply structure. 

Changes in the RMB exchange rate do impact the cost of imported raw materials and on the price of exported products; e.g., a depreciation in the RMB means a higher cost of importing zinc ingots and iron ore and higher price of these products. 

Moreover, global supply networks are subject to global geopolitical disruptions and unforeseeable hazards like pandemics, and so there may be a shortage or increase in raw materials or the cost of transportation, indirectly pushing pre-coated galvanized steel prices higher and lower.