By Serife Durmus – Tuesday 21 September
Flat steel buyers in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia preferred to wait for prices to stop coming down before they placed any new orders, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday September 21.
Most imported flat steel prices to the two countries have decreased during the past week, because of lower offer prices. End-user demand remained weak because of the lack of big new projects, sources added.
While some buyers expected prices to decrease further in the next few months, some believed that prices would remain stable at current levels until the end of September, because the recent price falls have been sharp.
Saudi Arabia
India offered hot-rolled coil to Saudi Arabia at $950-980 per tonne cfr, down from last week’s offers at $980-1,000 per tonne cfr.
Buyers were bidding $920-930 per tonne cfr for Indian HRC, but no major deals were heard.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel HRC, import, cfr Saudi Arabia, was $930-950 per tonne on September 21, falling from $950-980 per tonne on September 14.
UAE
Hot-rolled coil was offered to the southern Gulf state from India at $930- 40 per tonne cfr, falling from offer prices at $960-980 per tonne cfr last week.
One buyer was bidding $910-920 per tonne cfr for Indian HRC.
China’s offers of HRC were heard at $950-970 per tonne cfr, unchanged since last week. But these prices were too high for the current market, sources said, so no deals were heard.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel HRC, import, cfr Jebel Ali,
UAE, was $920-930 per tonne on Tuesday, falling from $950-960 per tonne on September 14.
Cold-rolled coil was offered at $1,000 per tonne cfr from China, narrowing from last week’s offers at $1,000-1,020 per tonne cfr UAE.
India offered CRC at $1,010-1,020 per tonne cfr, widening downward from offers at $1,020 per tonne cfr last week. But again, no deals were heard.
The weekly price assessment for steel CRC, import, cfr Jebel Ali, UAE, was $1,000-1,010 per tonne on September 21, narrowing downward from $1,000- 1,020 per tonne on September 14.
(MetalBulletin, 21 Sep, 2021)
