On March 30, the largest steel manufacturer and market leader in the United Arab Emirates (the UAE), Emirates Steel Arkan (ESA), announced its wire rod price for April production. The company has chosen to raise its prices amid the sustainable sales seen this month.
According to the local sources, local wire rod demand is good enough for sellers to maintain business activities at reasonable levels. As a result, having achieved higher deal prices, Emirati producers have chosen to increase their official offers. However, the overall mood in the market affected by the unfavorable trend in Saudi Arabia has significantly affected the outlook for the GCC region.
"Demand is currently supportive, but we are having some concerns with Saudi Arabia since they are decreasing the price every month, which is going to have a negative impact," a market source told SteelOrbis.
As a result, this time ESA's official prices for wire rod for April production have been announced at $717/mt (AED 2,633/mt) delivered to Dubai. The producer’s price last month stood at $675/mt (AED 2,478/mt) ex-works. According to sources, at the end of March the workable domestic price level increased from $660/mt to $690-700/mt ex-works, providing support for the uptrend in offers.
However, other local wire rod producers in the UAE have not yet increased their offers. United Steel Industries is offering at $700/mt ex-works in line with the offers last week. In the meantime, Qatar Steel FZE has not yet come up with an official price level, but other sources evaluate the supplier’s possible offers at $690/mt CPT.
Meanwhile, the UAE’s export activities are currently on hold given decent domestic sales, though Emirati offers are also uncompetitive in the global market, especially compared to Asia and Egypt.
$1 = AED 3.672