August 30, 2008

Rebar prices in UAE surge to record levels – Report

Arabianbusiness.com reported that rebar prices in the UAE have shot up by 30% within a week and are expected to cross USD 1,150 per tonne next month.

As per report last week, rebar was selling for USD 980 in a steel futures contract expiring in the first week of April on the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange. There were no sellers for the May contract at that price, insinuating a further increase in the price of steel.

Mr Pankaj Gupta regional manager of brokerage firm SMC Comex which is trading on the DGCX said there are two reasons for this jump in prices.
1. Due to the cost of iron ore which went up by 65% recently and the other is due to Turkish steel producers constantly raising their prices every day.
2. Since most of the steel imported into the UAE is Turkish, it is causing a massive problem.

Mr Gupta added that "Producers were not selling for the past 15 days, and I do not think that steel suppliers are completely out of stock. But if you know that your steel is going to be worth almost twice as much in a week, any businessman would hold on to it and sell it when the time is right.”