Last week, SteelOrbis reported that buyers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) targeted price levels of $550/mt CFR for hot rolled coil (HRC) imports, considering the available import HRC offers to be on the high side at that time. In the current week, import HRC offers to the UAE have decreased further, though no new import HRC deal has been heard in the UAE. According to market sources, the problem is not the price level but nonexistent demand.
Having maintained more aggressive price strategies over the past week, CIS-based HRC producers have reduced their offers for most of their export markets. Accordingly, their HRC offers to the UAE have declined in the current week, moving down by $10/mt week on week to $550-560/mt CFR.
Meanwhile, Chinese HRC suppliers have also decreased their offers to the UAE in parallel with the fall in their HRC offers to all other export markets. It is observed that Chinese HRC offers to the UAE at the level of $580/mt CFR, which were available until the current week, are currently outdated with new offers being at $560/mt CFR. Chinese suppliers have reduced their HRC export offers by taking advantage of the rise in tax rebates for steel exports.
Lastly, Indian producers HRC offers to the UAE have moved sideways over the past week in the range of $570-575/mt CFR.