Posted on 29 Dec 2023
Billet suppliers in the United Arab Emirates and Oman have increased their offers by $5-15/tonne, while ex-Iran billet hiked by $8-10/t compared to last week. The increase in both local and imported prices in the Gulf Cooperation Council is due to the direct reduced iron cost rise and rebound in long products, notes Kallanish.
An Omani re-roller issued a modified billet purchase enquiry for 10,000 tonnes, for which the local electric arc furnace route-offer is at $540/t delivered for January shipment, while ex-Iran is at $525-530/t delivered to buyer's yard.
In the UAE, local induction furnace-route billet suppliers are preferring to wait until next week for secondary mills to publish their domestic rebar prices for January delivery.
Local scrap in the UAE is stable from last week at AED 1,250-1,270/t ($340-345) for HMS 80:20, while fabrication and premium grades softened slightly, by AED 25/t on-week, to AED 1,325-1,350/t and AED 1,270-1,300/t respectively.
Local scrap trade activity has slowed because mills aim to start the new year with minimum raw material stocks. The Indian scrap import market is down, while containerised scrap shipments to Bangladesh and Pakistan continue via Jebel Ali Port.
Source:Kallanish
