Although end-user demand in the UAE remains low, the general predictions for future months are encouraging, even though no bookings have been heard from the UAE in the past week owing to the present sluggish business activities. In the meantime, import offers have remained reasonable, and Omani customers in particular have continued to choose Chinese materials.
“Though [there are] expectations for better days, the current situation in the market is weak and construction projects are going slowly, which is why most customers are waiting and watching the market,” a UAE re-roller told SteelOrbis.
Over the past week, in the BAE, ex-China offers for SS400 HRC have remained stable week on week at around $570-580/mt CFR for October-November shipments. Moreover, according to sources, last week China sold around 10,000 mt of SS400 HRC to Oman at $585/mt CFR.
Meanwhile, India and South Korea have remained silent and have not made any offers to the UAE since their local markets remain stronger. Although the larger mills that are not offering have said that offers should be at $600/mt CFR, according to market sources a few suppliers from India have offered at $620-640/mt CFR to the UAE, which is unreasonable for Emirati buyers.
“We are not offering at present like the other Indian suppliers, but the acceptable level in the market seems to be around $600/mt CFR to the UAE,” the representative of an Indian mill representative told SteelOrbis.
