The GCC billet market activity has been relatively slow recently, especially on the import side, considering the current offers from Asia are not quite workable. Large buyers are aiming to book at least $10/mt lower than that and are expected to wait until early January with negotiations. Locally, the billet prices have remained stable over the past two weeks and are not expected to change much since the local rebar prices have been rolled over, particularly in the UAE.
The key Omani billet supplier is currently out of the market, aiming to renew its presence after the holidays. The latest offers to the local and Emirati market stood at $500/mt CPT, up from $480-485/mt CPT over the month. Import offers for Asian billet to Oman and the UAE, according to sources, stood at $475/mt CFR this week with no deals reported.
Iranian billet exports have been still rather slow with the suppliers mainly focusing on sales to Asian markets whenever their prices are workable. Overall, the EAF billet from large and medium mills have been at $395-415/mt FOB for early February shipments. In the GCC, namely Oman and the UAE, the CPT prices for billet from Iran have been reported at $440-450/mt. The Emirati buyers are not much active due to the valid ECAS restriction, although, according to sources, some of the ex-Iran origin is being sent to the UAE under the Omani one. “The trade flow is there since the prices are much lower than the alternative, but the volumes are less of course,” a GCC-based source told SteelOrbis.
In Saudi Arabia, the local billet prices have remained stable at $483-488/mt (SAR 1,810-1,830/mt) CPT, with the activity remaining moderate. In the import segment, most offers are traditionally coming from Asia through traders. While in the past week, the offers for Chinese billet mainly stood at $475-477/mt CFR, this week the potential buyers reported the levels of $472-475/mt CFR. No deals have been reported since the customers are aiming to book below $463-465/mt CFR for 50,000 mt lots.