Despite the firm strengthening of prices of raw materials in the global market (iron ore and scrap specifically), local demand for rebar in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is not sufficient to adjust prices upwards.
Accordingly, Emirates Steel Industries (ESI), the leader of the rebar market in the UAE, has not made any changes to its domestic rebar prices, announcing them again at $483/mt (AED 1,773/mt) ex-works, for August production. Local producers Union Iron & Steel and Hamriyah Steel are officially offering at $482/mt (AED 1,770/mt) ex-works, SteelOrbis has learned that Conares is expected to follow the same policy. “Today mills rolled over their prices. However, we are waiting to see what discounts will be offered by them,” a trader told SteelOrbis. “All traders are been hit because of the large amounts of outstanding payments. So right now everyone is in survival mode in the UAE market as no new projects have been announced,” another UAE-based trader stated commenting on the current situation. The latest workable prices have been reported at $450-466/mt (AED 1,650-1,700/mt) ex-works.
Omani suppliers are taking their time to announce new offers to the UAE. However, taking into account the current market trend, they are expected to offer at levels similar to those seen in the previous round of sales, which were mainly at $456/mt (AED 1,675/mt) CPT.
Domestic retail rebar prices in the UAE are set at around $468-479/mt (AED 1,720-1,760/mt) ex-warehouse, with the higher end of the range valid for ESI-origin rebar.
$1 = AED 3.673