As the sixth gloomy week of 2009 is passing away, all market players -i.e producers, traders, raw material suppliers, end users- in the Middle East rebar market have still been experiencing difficulties. As scrap prices have been softening, first finished steel products' prices and then the billet prices have continue to fall down due to the fact that end users have not shown expected interest in rebars.
As buyers have decided to wait furthermore due to the falling rebar prices, those prices have softened furthermore in response to buyers' waiting. Rebar price levels in Turkey have this week been at the range of $425-460/mt ex-works/ex-warehouse, excluding VAT. Turkish rebar producers have this week declined their price levels also in the export market to the levels of $450-470/mt FOB and surprised their European competitors. It is wondered if those low price levels will go down to lower levels.
As it is widely known, the price movements -stable, up or down- depends on the international end user demand levels. If the expected demand uptrend will become real in the Middle East in particular, rebar prices will likely to go up. However, Middle East is currently experiencing a gloomy time period. As the first budget deficit in Dubai for the first time in history is being expected, similar developments are being expected also in Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Middle East needs only time in order to gain its balance again, which has been damaged due to financial crisis. As the local traders in the UAE think that the purchase movements will start again in late March, a number of market players, on the other hand, think that this scenario is very optimistic under current circumstances.