Posted on 15 Mar 2023
The Gulf Cooperation Council hot rolled coil market is quiet this week. A few tube makers in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates released enquiries each for 2,000-5,000-tonne lots. The prices vary between $720-760/tonne cfr GCC ports for end-April/May shipment, Kallanish observes.
Last week, a re-roller booked 10,000t of May-shipment 2mm+ SAE 1006 and SAE 1008 (re-rolling) grades HRC through a trading company from a Japanese major at $730/t cfr Jebel Ali against LC 90 days. This equates to $705-710/t cfr LC at sight.
This week, the Japanese major has stopped offering HRC in the GCC market and is preparing to float its new offers for end-May shipment. This will happen in late March or early April.
A tube maker received a price offer from a Chinese tier-two mill for 3mm+ S235JR grade at $720/t cfr Jebel Ali for late-April/early-May shipment. Out of three, one Indian major is offering base grade to the GCC market at $740-745/t cfr Jebel Ali for May shipment, but this has not induced interest. Tube makers' bids are at $710/t cfr.
A Chinese major's 1.2mm SPHT-1 grade offer is at $775-780/t cfr Dammam or Jebel Ali. The mill observed better buying activity in Africa and has thus shifted its focus to African markets.
Re-rollers in the bloc are observing increasing domestic and export sales for hot-dipped galvanised material; they have almost doubled their sales in March versus the same period in February.
"There is no base grade HRC price to our region from tier-one mills in China, Japan, India and Taiwan at below $730-745/t cfr. Buying prices in Europe at $825-835/t cfr Antwerp/Belgium and Italy are more lucrative for Indian mills; that's why major Indian mills are even not offering in the GCC," comments a buy-side source.
Source:Kallanish
