Low demand from the end-users has continued to negatively affect the hot rolled coil (HRC) market in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Furthermore, the Emirati buyers have preferred to take a wait-and-see position due to mixed sentiments among the major HRC suppliers.
While Indian HRC sellers have attempted to increase offers to the UAE, ex-China HRC prices have corrected down after holiday amid lower futures and lack of demand in the global market. Overall, most of the customers in the GCC region expect to see a decrease in import prices owing to low buying interest and overall, vulnerable situation in the global steel industry.
Consequently, business activity in the UAE has remained scarce. "Demand is quite low, while import prices are very high, therefore we anticipate to fall from here on," a representative of a major flats mill said on the present circumstances.
Specifically, ex-India boron-added HRC is reported to be available at $630-640/mt CFR compared to $620-630/mt CFR in late September. On the contrary, Chinese HRC suppliers have decreased their offers to the UAE, however most of them have not succeeded in securing orders. Accordingly, ex-China SS400 HRC have been offered at $620-626/mt CFR Jebel Ali, down around $15-20/mt within the past two weeks, while ex-China SAE 1006 HRC has been available at $655/mt CFR Jebel Ali.
Meanwhile, ex-South Korea and ex-Japan suppliers have been reportedly ready to sell HRC at $590-600/mt CFR. Last week, SteelOrbis heard of ex-South Korea HRC booking to the GCC region at $590-595/mt CFR.