HRC prices increase in Egypt while remaining generally stable in Middle East

Hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in Egypt increased early this week. Egyptian flat steel producer EZDK, which had kept its HRC prices unchanged last week, has increased its domestic HRC price by EGP 150/mt ($25/mt) to EGP 4,350/mt ($732/mt) ex-works, exclusive of taxes. In the meantime, SteelOrbis has learned that demand from international markets for EZDK's HRC offers at $785/mt FOB remains low.
 
SteelOrbis has heard from market sources that flat steel prices in Saudi Arabia are currently following a sideways trend, while demand has started to recover. In the Saudi Arabian domestic market, stockists' 2-12 mm HRC prices stand at SAR 3,150-3,250/mt ($840-867/mt) ex-warehouse, while their steel plate prices are at SAR 3,350-3,450/mt ($893-920/mt) ex-warehouse. In the meantime, the Saudi steel producer Hadeed is currently offering ex-stock HRC at $730/mt ex-works, while its HRC sales prices for August shipments stand at $760-780/mt ex-works.
 
On the import side, there have not been many offers heard for Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, Japanese 1.2 mm HRC offers still stand at $800-825/mt CFR, while offers from South Korea for 1.2 mm HRC are at $825/mt CFR.
 
While flat steel import offers have remained almost unchanged in the UAE market, the latest transactions of HRC with 1.8 mm and above thickness have been concluded at $740-745/mt CFR. In the meantime, 1.2 mm HRC import offers to the UAE stand at $820-840/mt CFR. HRC offers from the Far East to the UAE have generally followed a downward trend and CIS producers are expected to announce their HRC price levels for July production in the coming days.