This week, while Japanese suppliers who had already sold some quantities remained firm on their HRC offers to the UAE market, Chinese suppliers, despite a small rebound in Chinese future prices, have continued to reduce their hot rolled coil (HRC) prices to this destination because of the poor trading activity. However, because of the weak demand in their local market, Emirati customers have remained silent as regards purchases of HRC imports.
As a result, whereas earlier HRC offers were in the range of $500-515/mt CFR, ex-China HRC offers for October shipment have dropped by $5-10/mt week on week to $490-510/mt CFR to the UAE.
On the other hand, Japanese suppliers have kept their offers at $500/mt CFR for October shipment, unchanged from last week.
Meanwhile, Indian and South Korean suppliers are still not offering since their expectations of greater prices levels are difficult to meet due to the slow trade activity and the significantly lower offer prices in the market from other suppliers.
