With the beginning of January 2023, reinforcing steel prices in the UAE increased by 5.3% to reach 2,380 dirhams per tonne, compared to 2,260 dirhams per tonne at the end of 2022.
Reinforcing steel prices increased by 1.6% during December and November to reach 2,260 dirhams per tonne, compared to October, which settled at 2,222 dirhams per tonne.
Prices in the local market decreased by 6.5% to reach 2,351 dirhams per tonne in September, compared to 2,516 dirhams per tonne in August and July.
It amounted to about 2,750 dirhams per tonne in June, after declining by 13%, compared to May prices, which amounted to about 3,174 dirhams per tonne.
The reinforcing steel prices in the UAE increased during April by 21% to reach 3,120 dirhams per tonne, compared to 2,587 dirhams per tonne in March. This also achieved an increase of 4%, compared to February and January, which recorded 2,488 dirhams per tonne, against the backdrop of the onset of the crisis in Ukraine during the last week of February.
It is worth noting that these prices do not include any discount based on quantities, additional fees on sizes, product grade or any other fees applied to the product price, such as the additional cost of raw materials.
The state of the global economy
The global reinforcing steel market witnessed a divergence during the first half of 2022 due to the state of the global economy affected by the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and the closures in China due to “Covid 19,” while the market returned to a gradual decline during the second half of last year. The increase in the iron materials supply contributed to the drop in rebar prices by 20% during the second half of 2022, with the price of a tonne of iron reaching about $660 globally.
According to data issued by BNC, the growth rate in the construction sector in the Middle East is the highest in the world, and the local is expected to record an average annual growth rate of 6.8% for the year 2022.
The value of the construction sector in the GCC countries is estimated at $1.6 trillion, with more than 21,000 active projects registered at the end of the first quarter of 2022.
Emirates Steel Arkan
The Emirates Steel Arkan Company acquires a 60% share of the local market, as it produces 3.5 million tonnes of reinforcing steel products, iron wire coils, structural sections and baseboards annually. Sufficient to meet the needs of the local markets, contributing to sustainable industrial development in the country, and diversify the structure of its economy by promoting its exports to the world.
The export markets of «Emirates Steel Arkan», which covers 56 countries, represented about 45% of the company’s total sales in 2021, while the rest were sold within the local markets in the UAE.
The value of rebar market sales in the UAE during 2022 amounted to about 4.5 billion dirhams, while the volume of domestic consumption since the beginning of this year has reached two million tonnes.
