This week, UAE-based purchasers, who had been replenishing their supplies despite long-standing rises in HRC prices, began to be cautious about making fresh purchases. The main reason is that UAE customers, who had expected an increase after the Chinese holiday noticed that ex-China hot rolled coil (HRC) offers had started to show some softening.
“Many people have begun to postpone their purchase decisions in anticipation of a decline in ex-Chinese HRC offerings,” an UAE-based distributor told SteelOrbis.
Currently, ex-China SS400 HRC offers have stayed at the same levels as last week at $690-700/mt CFR for April shipment, while, according to some market players, China has started to offer lower levels at $670-680/mt CFR to the UAE.
Conversely, Indian suppliers have increased their offers due to better business activities, with the latest HRC offers to the UAE for end-of-March or April shipments reported at $740-750/mt CFR, up $20/mt over the past week.
On the other hand, South Korea and Japan have reaffirmed their HRC offers to the UAE at $745/mt CFR and $740/mt CFR for March and April shipments, respectively.
“For the time being, we will retain our offerings at the same levels and will provide our new offers based on the market circumstances,” an exporter told SteelOrbis.