On December 16, UAE-based Emirates Steel Industries (ESI), the leader in the UAE’s rebar market, has announced its rebar price for January production, increasing it by $85/mt (AED 311,5/mt) within the past month. Although its new offers were expected to be announced at higher levels in line with the global uptrend, the size of the increase has exceeded the expectations of most market insiders.
Accordingly, the company's rebar is now available at $625/mt (AED 2,295/mt) ex-works, versus $540/mt (AED 1,984/mt) ex-works last month. “This was bound to happen. Raw materials have moved up by 25 percent. The only issue is that Emirati customers are revolting and not buying because such a big difference was not anticipated in their estimated costs. As a result, some customers have put their projects on hold until January,” an Emirati trader stated. “I was expecting an AED 200/mt rise at the highest. However, following last week’s rumors concerning ESI’s assessments at the level AED 2,300-2,350/mt, we were ready even for higher numbers,” another trader commented. “The price rise was initially expected. It is just a matter of time when this bubble is going to burst,” a trader said. However, according to another view, prices could have even moved up by $100-120/mt this time compared to the previous official offers.
In the meantime, Union Iron & Steel is said to be offering rebar at the same level as ESI’s offers - at $625/mt (AED 2,295/mt) ex-works, while the rebar produced by Conares is available at $615/mt ex-works, SteelOrbis has learned.
Meanwhile, domestic retailers have started to test market with offers at $610-654/mt (AED 2,240-2,400/mt) ex-warehouse, raising them by around $60-87/mt (AED 220-320/mt) within the past week. During negotiations, buyers may be able to get AED 30-40/mt discounts, depending on payment terms and volumes of orders, sources report. The higher end of the abovementioned range is traditionally valid for ESI-origin rebar.