Although demand for import hot rolled coil (HRC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has failed to recover completely, few purchases have been concluded over the past week. UAE-based buyers are expected to start restocking HRC as the fall in global HRC prices has come to a halt, while market players expect prices to move up in the coming period.
Due to the approach of the Chinese New Year holiday which starts on February 2, Chinese mills are not very active in the international markets. While their most recent HRC offers to the UAE were standing at $535-540/mt CFR, Chinese mills have not offered new price levels to this destination in the current week.
Meanwhile, Indian producers are keeping their offers above the $500/mt CFR mark for the UAE as they are planning to raise them slightly to the range of $510-520/mt CFR.
Having recently offered HRC to the UAE at $495/mt CFR, CIS-based mills have not given any new offers to the UAE, though market sources report that they are planning to increase their prices by $10-15/mt in the coming period.