Business activity in the wire rod market across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region has been slow as a result of Covid-19 restriction measures and their impact on consumption. Prices in the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been mainly adjusted downwards in order to trigger some trade.
In Saudi Arabia, local producer Hadeed dropped its domestic wire rod price by $53/mt (SAR 200/mt) last week to $507/mt (SAR 1,900/mt) CPT for May production, as reported earlier. Egyptian steelmaker Ezz Steel has followed the downtrend and decreased its offer to Saudi Arabia by $35/mt over the past month to $480/mt CFR Jeddah, for shipment in June. No fresh deals, however, have been reported.
Asian sellers have been quite aggressive in trade with the GCC. According to sources, close to 10,000 mt have been recently sold to the UAE and Saudi Arabia (Dammam port) at $420/mt CFR. At the end of April, Indian origin wire rod was on offer to Saudi Arabia at $430/mt CFR, before Hadeed’s announcement.
In the UAE, according to the buyers and some sellers, the workable level for domestic origin wire rod has decreased by around $11-16/mt (AED 42-60/mt) over the past two weeks to $460-465/mt (AED 1,690-1,708/mt) CPT for May production. However, wire rod for prompt deliveries is available at $475/mt (AED 1,745/mt) CPT, SteelOrbis has learned.
$1 = SAR 3.75
$1 = AED 3.673