End-user demand in the UAE has remained poor after the Eid holiday and hot rolled coil (HRC) buyers are now postponing import bookings and keeping an eye on market movements since offers, particularly from China, may soften further.
“Customers are watching prices fall and expect them to go down further. There is still no demand,” one exporter told SteelOrbis.
Accordingly, ex-China offers for SS400 HRC for June shipments have dropped to $600-630/mt CFR UAE, down from $640-650/mt CFR previously. In the meantime, considering the attractive offers from China, a majority of the larger Indian mills have chosen not to offer, at least for now.
“We are not offering yet because our price expectation does not match that of Emirati buyers,” the representative of an Indian mill told SteelOrbis.
According to sources, Indian mills are not willing to go any lower than the previous offers at $720/mt CFR. In this context, the information circulating about a deal at $690/mt CFR for a modest quantity of re-rolling grade HRC has not been confirmed by the time of publication.
Furthermore, South Korea has reduced its offer for June-July shipments by $25/mt to $715/mt CFR, while Japan has offered at $690/mt CFR for June shipments.
