Wire rod demand in the domestic markets of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region has deteriorated lately. In particular, trading activity has slowed down in Saudi Arabia, where market conditions were much more favorable in comparison to other regions until recently. Business activity has slowed down mainly due to the approach of Ramadan. Besides that, high stocks and strong competition have continued to put pressure on wire rod prices. As a result, the gap between the official and workable prices has widened.
Accordingly, the current offers to the domestic market for wire rod produced by Emirates Steel Industries (ESI), the key producer in the UAE longs market, are voiced at $690/mt ex-works for March production, compared to $750/mt ex-works announced in the previous round. In the meantime, another UAE-based supplier Qatar Steel is said to be in the market with official offers at $700-715/mt CPT, depending on the size of the order. However, according to market sources, the workable level for wire rod in the UAE is largely not higher than $685/mt CPT.
In the meantime, Saudi Arabia’s largest steel producer and market leader, Hadeed, has announced its latest 6.5-14 mm wire rod price at $773/mt (SAR 2,900/mt) CPT, unchanged compared to the previous month. The latest bookings for ESI’s wire rod in Saudi Arabia have been done at $750/mt CPT, while wire rod produced by another Emirati producer United Steel Company based in Fujairah was said to be available at $735/mt CPT. A few small lots of ex-Egypt wire rod have been traded to Saudi Arabia at approximately $727-737/mt CFR Jeddah, with FOB prices being at $710-720/mt FOB and estimated freight at $17/mt, SteelOrbis has learned.
$1 = AED 3.673
$1 = SAR 3.75