Demand for hot rolled coil (HRC) in the Saudi Arabian market is still weak, while Saudi buyers are purchasing only in line with their needs ahead of Ramadan. With buyers focusing on their local market instead of imports last month, prices in the local Saudi Arabian HRC market have increased by $10/mt over the past month to $435-440/mt ex-works, for August production.
On the other hand, HRC offers from Japan and China to Saudi Arabia have decreased by $15/mt in the same period to $380-405/mt CFR, for September shipments.