Turkish rebar producers' resistance falters in the UAE market

According to market sources, over the past week rebar prices in the local UAE market have remained almost stable at AED 2,000-2,020/mt ($545-550/mt) delivered, while the market has seen decent rebar demand and not been directly affected by decreasing oil prices. Meanwhile, local steel producer Emirates Steel Industries (ESI) had last week announced unchanged rebar prices for February production at AED 1,985/mt ($541/mt) ex-works. Following this announcement, Qatari steel producer Qatar Steel has revised its price downwards for February production, reducing its prices by QAR 50/mt ($14/mt) to QAR 1,925/mt ($529/mt) ex-works. Qatar Steel's price reduction has caused confusion in the local market since local producer ESI had kept its prices stable this month, and its price adjustment has exerted some pressure on ESI. This situation is expected to prompt ESI to revise its prices for March production and to make more competitive offers.
 
Market sources state that the news coming from the Turkish side in the UAE rebar market has not been positive, in particular as regards prices. Turkish rebar exporters, who had resisted reducing their offers below $495/mt CFR last week, have since decreased their offers to $490/mt CFR first and then further to $485/mt CFR - all offers are on theoretical weight basis. UAE-based market players state that some purchases for a total 25,000 mt of rebar have been concluded at this level. Considering the softening of import scrap prices in the Turkish market, rebar importers in the UAE report that Turkish producers are very eager to accept orders and so it is only a matter of time before ex-Turkey rebar offers decrease to $480/mt CFR on theoretical weight basis.
 
Meanwhile, Chinese offers to the UAE for chrome-added rebar have softened by $5/mt week on week to the range of $440-445/mt CFR on actual weight basis. However, there is scarcely any demand for these offers and no deals have been concluded at these levels.
 
$1 = AED 3.67
$1 = QAR 3.64