The Middle Eastern flat steel markets remain silent ahead of the Feast of Sacrifice holiday, which will begin this weekend. Despite the recent price declines, there are not many transactions in the regional markets. However, after the holiday demand is expected to recover somewhat.
In Saudi Arabia, although flat steel demand is not so low, bookings have slowed down as compared to September and October. Saudi steel producer Hadeed's domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) base price is heard to be currently standing at $780/mt ex-works, down from $830/mt ex-works in early October. However, buyers are now delaying their bookings in order to see how much prices will decrease after the holiday.
The UAE flat steel market remains quiet amid very low end-user demand and a lack of transactions. Despite declines in import flat steel offers to the UAE, the reduced offers have failed to gain acceptance in the country so far. HRC import offers from Iran stand at $640/mt FOB, while the latest HRC offers from China are at $620/mt. In early October, Iranian HRC offers to the UAE were at $705/mt FOB.