Posted on 07 Dec 2022
The Gulf Cooperation Council hot rolled coil market is observing an increase in prices of imported material for January and February shipments. However, the sole HRC producer in the bloc, the Saudi mill, has brought down its February-rolling prices by nearly $10-15/tonne on-month, Kallanish notes.
The Saudi mill announced on Monday its February-rolling base-grade HRC quote, after a $12/t decrease on January deliveries, at $693/t for 3mm thickness, $700/t for 2.3mm and $713/t for 2mm, all delivered within Saudi Arabia. Depending on the tonnage, customers in United Arab Emirates and Oman are highly likely to receive a discount to ensure competitiveness against imported material.
Tubemakers and re-rollers in UAE who earlier postponed their HRC enquiries until after the UAE National Day holiday have now released enquiries or are preparing to do so by the weekend, for another combined 50,000-60,000 tonnes.
A Japanese mill has informed its clients of a $10/t increase on its last round of initial offers to $610/t cfr GCC for February shipments. Indian mills are expected to quote at $605-640/t cfr for January shipments. However, trading companies with positioned cargoes from the Far East and Vietnam are still at $575-585/t cfr GCC for January shipment/February delivery.
Last week, a combined volume of nearly 60,000t of HRC was booked in UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Early last week, a re-rolling grade (SAE 1006) deal for a nearly 10,000t parcel was booked from a Far Eastern mill at $570-575/t cfr GCC for late-January shipment. Tubemakers booked about 30,000t of S235JR grade HRC from an Indian mill for December shipment/mid-January arrival at $580-590/t cfr Jebel Ali (UAE). In contrast, other major Indian mills' offers were at $610-640/t cfr Jebel Ali for December shipment/December or early-January arrival.
Through a trading company in Hong Kong, an ex-Vietnam HRC offer, which was at around $565/t cfr a week ago, is offered this week at $575-585/t cfr Jebel Ali for mid-January shipment.
"After large tonnages of HRC sales to the GCC and an improving market in Europe, Japanese and Taiwanese mills are withholding their offers for a week for February shipments,” says a trader. “Major Indian mills and their trading partners will leverage on the desperate needs of buyers for January deliveries, seeking a premium of $10-30/t on market prices.”
Source:Kallanish
