In the local UAE market, rebar prices have declined by AED 10-20/mt ($3-5/mt) over the past week to AED 1,960-1,980/mt ($534-540/mt) delivered to customer. Although demand from end-users has been decent in the country, UAE-based market players state that the sentiment in the market has been quite weak, remarking that Turkish rebar offers have been declining continuously. Transaction activity in the local UAE market has accordingly slowed down. Additionally, UAE-based buyers are waiting to see local producer ESI's list prices for March, and this has also caused market activity to slow down.
In the early days of the past week Turkish exporters' offers to the UAE were at $475-480/mt CFR on theoretical weight basis. However, demand in the UAE rebar market remained weak, and so they revised their offers to $470/mt CFR on theoretical weight basis. Due to the weakening of raw material prices, this new rebar price level failed to gain acceptance and Turkish producers have been forced to reduce their offers to around $450-460/mt CFR, on theoretical weight basis. Market sources state that two Turkish producers have concluded transactions for a total of approximately 15,000 mt of rebar to the UAE at around $450/mt CFR, on theoretical weight basis.
$1 = AED 3.67