Low demand has been exerting pressure on the positions of hot dip galvanized (HDG) producers in the UAE who, despite firm feedstock prices, are forced to give substantial discounts to attract the attention of buyers.
Accordingly, official offers for 1 mm Z275 HDG coils produced by Al-Ghurair Iron and Steel, a key local mill, for November shipment are mostly at $800/mt ex-works, which corresponds to the higher end of the range announced in the previous sales cycle. Another local producer United Iron & Steel is offering HDG of the same specification at the same level. However, according to sources, real bookings are signed at much lower prices. “There is not much demand in the local market. Rare deals are at least $30-35/mt below initially announced offers,” an Emirati source stated. “Local mills are still selling cheap. I still heard numbers around $730-740/mt delivered,” another market insider told SteelOrbis.
HDG coils with the same specification produced by India’s JSW are offered at $770-775/mt CFR, also with low reported interest from Emirati buyers.