Lagging demand from end-users along with accumulated high inventories continue to take a toll on the UAE hot rolled coil (HRC) market. As a result, foreign sellers, who have been aiming at higher offers lately, have failed to achieve higher prices in the UAE but have closed deals at considerable discounts.
One of the Emirati re-rollers has booked 25,000 mt ex-India HRC for August delivery at $420-430/mt CFR, $10-20/mt lower than the offers announced last week. In the meantime, other customers are still not in a hurry to activate purchases. “Prices are edging up. However, the pipes market is subdued,” a pipe manufacturer said. “For HRC, we had offers from Indian mills at about $440/mt CFR but no one is keen to buy as almost all are sitting on huge inventories”, another Emirati HRC user said. Meanwhile, suppliers are still seeking to increase prices. As SteelOrbis was informed, one trading company has raised its offers to the UAE market by about $5-10/mt over the past week to $435-440/mt CFR for Indian origin HRC.
According to sources, Japanese and South Korean suppliers are still out of the UAE market due to the unfavorable market conditions in the region.
Offers from the regional producer Hadeed are reportedly coming within $440-450/mt DDP for June production, with no interest from buyers, SteelOrbis understands.
