During the past week, import hot rolled coil (HRC) demand in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has remained weak, while import HRC offers to the UAE have been at $585-620/mt CFR.
Having been at $610-615/mt CFR last week, Chinese HRC offers to the UAE have increased by $5/mt on the upper end week on week to $610-620/mt CFR.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian HRC offers to the UAE are currently in the range of $585-600/mt CFR.
Following the deals concluded in the UAE for Russian and Indian HRC last week at $600-615/mt CFR, no new HRC offers from these countries to the UAE have been heard.
It is observed that Iran has recently been trying very hard to stimulate its sales to the Gulf countries. Market sources report that Iran has concluded a HRC sale to UAE over the past week at $605/mt CFR Cebel Ali.
On the other hand, Turkish mills are focusing on alternative export markets due to the ongoing safeguard investigation in the EU, while their HRC offers to the UAE are in the range of $585-590/mt CFR.
Import HRC demand in the UAE is not expected to accelerate during Ramadan and the subsequent end-of-Ramadan holiday. Meanwhile, import scrap offers to the UAE are expected to move sideways in the coming days.