<span>Buyer activity in the UAE market for longs and structurals remains sluggish. Construction activity has slowed down due to unfavourable situation in the region, and thus stockists prefer to buy only small lots, keeping stock levels moderate. Nevertheless, they expect the situation in the Middle East and North Africa to stabilize by mid May, leading to stronger demand from end-users. Besides, the fact that new construction projects will be announced soon also supports local suppliers' optimistic mood. However, they will still have to make some reductions in view of lower prices for import material. <br> Meanwhile, local producers maintain rebar and wire rod quotations at two-week-ago levels. At the same time, contracts for rebar from Emirates Steel Industries were reportedly signed at $708-713/t (AED 2,600-2,615/t) EXW. The exchange rate is $1 = AED 3.67. Yet, market players forecast that longs of May rolling will drop by $13-27/t (AED 50-100/t) by the end of April, as currently import billet is offered at $640-645/t C&F (down $15-20/t in two weeks), while the cost of re-rolling is about $50-60/t. Nevertheless, no deals for CIS billet are reported so far. Noteworthy, Conares Metal Supply (500,000 tpy) launched rebar production at the beginning of April, and its material can be bought by $7-14/t (AED 25-50/t) lower than that from other producers. However, the supplier is actively offering rebar to foreign buyers seeing poor domestic demand. <br> Offer prices for Turkish rebar have fallen by $15/t since early April, and currently they are by $42-52/t lower than local quotations (against $33-42/t two weeks ago), which resulted in stronger demand from UAE consumers. Several deals for small lots of Turkish rebar have been reportedly made at $660/t C&F, by $10/t lower than offer levels. <br> Stockists now are trying hard to attract buyers, and thus have reduced quotations of rebar and wire rod by $7-13/t (AED 25-50/t) in two weeks. Nevertheless, their material is still priced by $7-20/t higher than mills’ one. Some UAE trading companies make more considerable cuts and offer import rebar at $681/t (AED 2,500/t) ex-warehouse.<br> (Source: <a href="http://www.metalexpert-group.com/"><span><u><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">www.metalexpert-group.com</font></u></span></a>)</span>