<span>Buying activity in the Saudi market for longs and structurals is still high. Thus, rapidly developing construction industry makes traders restock permanently. Nevertheless, they still prefer purchasing local material due to its affordable prices and relatively fast delivery. As a result, prices for rebar have remained unchanged since June 2010 in view of governmental regulations. At the same time, demand for wire rod has substantially increased lately and local producers have managed to increase their quotations of the material by $40-44/t in three weeks. <br> In the segment for import products prices are moving in different directions. For example, offers of Turkish longs have decreased by $25/t in three weeks on slack demand, while the bottom of price range for structurals has added $10/t over the same period on higher demand. As a result, Turkish rebar is priced within the same range with local material. At the same time, quotations of rebar from Emirate Steel Industries (UAE) have gained $40-47/t from mid-January, reaching levels unattractive to Saudi buyers, while its prices for wire rod have increased by $42-47/t over the same period and are rather acceptable. Another Emirati supplier Hamriyah Steel is offering rebar at quite attractive prices – $740-745/t delivered to trader''s warehouse in Riyadh. Besides, a booking of Qatari rebar has been reportedly made at $713/t CPT Riyadh against $726/t CPT Riyadh three weeks ago. <br> ( Source: <a href="http://www.metalexper-group.com/"><u><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Times New Roman">www.metalexper-group.com</font></u></a> )</span>