Over the past week, import hot rolled coil (HRC) offers to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have continued to decrease, while UAE-based buyers have adopted a wait-and-see stance amid the downwards movement of prices and have mostly postponed their bookings. In the given period, import HRC offers to the UAE have declined by $15/mt on the upper end to $515-545/mt CFR.
While HRC offers from the CIS to the UAE are at $520-540/mt CFR, UAE-based buyers have concluded ex-CIS HRC bookings at $520-530/mt CFR. Having focused on export sales due to the weakening of prices in their domestic market, Chinese HRC producers have continued to decrease their export quotations and this situation has increased the pressure on HRC prices in the global market. Chinese HRC offers to the UAE have also decreased to $515-535/mt CFR in the given period.
On the other hand, ex-India HRC offers to the UAE have also continued to move downwards and have started to range at $535-545/mt CFR, same price level as compared to HRC offers made by Taiwanese suppliers. However, ex-India HRC offers to the UAE are not attractive enough to compete with Chinese HRC quotations and Indian suppliers are unwilling to decrease their prices sharply due to the recent strengthening of Indian rupee against the US dollar. Therefore, HRC offers made by Indian producers to the UAE is limited.