Despite market participants anticipating that business activity will gradually pick up in the coming weeks, the domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) market in the UAE is still suffering from persistently low end-user demand, which has resulted in a lack of activity.
“We just came back to work and business here is still slow, but we expect it to pick up in the coming days," a representative of a major re-roller stated commenting on the current developments.
Meanwhile, no critical price changes in HRC import offers have been seen in the UAE. Ex-China offers for SS400 HRC have mostly remained the same as last week at $590-600/mt CFR for shipping in July-August. However, according to sources, a deal is heard to have been done last week from China to the UAE for around 10,000 mt at $580-585/mt CFR.
Similarly, a HRC booking from India to the UAE at roughly $610/mt CFR has been reported. Nevertheless, most major India-based HRC suppliers have continued to take a wait-and-see stance due to the persistence of market concerns but, with the prospect of a revival in trade activity, they may receive support for their offers in the coming weeks.
Furthermore, ex-Japan HRC offers have been heard at about $590-600/mt CFR, while South Korea has decided not to provide HRC offers to the UAE due to failed attempts by suppliers to obtain higher pricing.
“Our pricing remains high for the UAE market and, with the market's uncertainty about the demand recovery, we are holding our offers and may be able to provide new offers by next week, depending on the market evolution," the representative of a major South Korean exporter told SteelOrbis.