The deteriorating market situation in the GCC region has continued to jeopardize opportunities for regional rebar suppliers to secure orders. Consequently, most producers have found themselves forced to lower prices to obtain single orders, apart from seeking customers abroad.
In particular, while official prices for rebar produced by a major Emirati steel mill for June production to the domestic market have been declared at AED2,755/mt ($750/mt) ex-mill, currently the material is said to be traded at AED 2,530/mt ($689/mt) ex-mills. Besides, last week the company reportedly sold a 50,000 mt cargo of rebar to Asia at $655/mt FOB actual weight. Taking freight into consideration, the CFR price is estimated at $710/mt CFR. Apart from that, the company's rebar is said to be offered in Oman through distributors at OMR 265/mt ($689/mt) delivered. “It's a total ruin of the local market,” an Oman-based source stated. “Prices are taking a nosedive,” an Omani source commented, adding that, given the market developments, a key Omani steel mill has decided to give prices fortnightly as opposed to monthly previously. Specifically, local rebar prices in Oman have been settled at OMR 269-283/mt ($700-736/mt) ex-works, down OMR 6/mt ($15/mt) at the lowest within the past three weeks.
Meanwhile, rebar in Saudi Arabia is said to have declined to SAR 2,700-2,900/mt ($720-773/mt) delivered levels, though that information has been rejected by Saudi-Arabia-based rebar mills. Specifically, the rebar is available at not lower than SAR 2,950-3,000/mt ($787-800/mt) delivered levels, while offers for rebar 12-14 mm from the main local rebar producer Hadeed have remained unchanged at SAR 3,100/mt ($826/mt) delivered.
$1 = AED 3.67
$1 = SAR 3.75
$1 = OMR 0.3845