Although Emirati hot rolled coil (HRC) market players say demand has remained at unsatisfactory levels, some purchases were reported from China to the UAE at the end of last week. Furthermore, South Korean HRC offers have increased despite weak interest from buyers, whereas Chinese HRC offer levels have remained somewhat ambiguous. In fact, while Chinese mills are generally targeting price increases this week, the low HRC offers to the UAE are still present, along with some higher price levels.
The market sources in the UAE have reported that low offers from China at $555-560/mt CFR are still present, in line with the lowest levels last week. However, at the same time, some Chinese suppliers are offering at $570-580/mt CFR for December shipments, which is closer to the market reality in the current week and which means that the previous $580-590/mt CFR targets are off the table for now. Despite the presence of significantly lower offers, certain sales for both grade SAE1006 and structural S275 at $575-585/mt CFR to the UAE were reported at the end of last week.
In the meantime, South Korean suppliers who last week signaled the intention to increase HRC offers have chosen to raise their prices by just $10/mt on the lower end of the range to $590-600/mt CFR UAE in order to observe the market response. Nevertheless, according to suppliers, there has not been much demand from Emirati buyers, mainly due to the more affordable prices in the market, particularly from China.
Unlike other suppliers, Indian exporters continue to refrain from offering to the UAE since their local market remains stronger, contrary to diminishing trading activities and expected cheaper offers in the UAE.