Steel and concrete prices plunged last year in Abu Dhabi due to economic slowdown, a report said.
The steel prices plummeted 43.9 percent while concrete rates declined 13.5 percent in the emirate in 2009, according to a report issued by Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi, or SCAD, part of Department of Economic Development Abu Dhabi. The steel and its products were the worst affected in the construction material that saw a decline of 12-43.9 percent, the report said. "Steel price plummeted 43.9 percent below their 2008 level," it said. High tensile steel registered the largest drop 50.7 percent in the steel group, reflecting a decline in the average price per ton of high tensile steel from Qatar, UAE and Turkey by 50.2 to 51.3 percent from Dh4,080 per ton in 2008 to Dh2,130 per ton in 2009, it said.
The price of flat steel dropped afterwards by 50.2 percent, mirroring the decline in the average price of flat steel from UAE and Turkey by 52.5 percent and 47.9 percent, respectively. According to SCAD, the price of steel bars shrank by 47.8 percent from Dh4,000 per ton in 2008 to Dh1,970 per ton in 2009.
Likewise, the price of the angled steel dropped 46.7 percent below the average for 2008, due to the fall in the price per ton of angled steel from Turkey, Ukraine and Korea by 52.4 percent, 46.4 percent and 47.9 percent respectively. Beam steel was no exception, its average price having retreated 34.4 percent owing to the decline in the price of large beam steel from Japan by 38.8 percent, while Ukrainian and Korean steel went down by 37.6 and 26.9 percent respectively.
RBC mesh prices plunged 38.6 percent, while binding wire was the item that showed the slightest decrease of 12 percent within the steel group.

According to the statistics released by the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, Iran was the major steel producer in the Middle East, experiencing production growth in 11 months of the year 2009.
According to the report, after Turkey, Iran is ranked as the second largest steel producer in the aforementioned period. Crude steel production in Turkey has reached to 22,949,000 tons in 11 months of 2009, while the sum of produced output in Iran was 9,983,000 tons in the same period. It can be said that the production of crude steel in Iran was not even half of the output in Turkey but the rate of production in Turkey shows a decrease compared to the same period in 2008, on the other hand, Iran has experienced 10.3 percent growth in the aforementioned time.
It is worthy to mention that the declining trend of crude steel production in Turkey slowed down month by month and it is predicted that the production of output in Iran's western neighbor will reach the normal level in 2010. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is considered as one of the largest steel producers in the region, producing 4,278,000 tons of crude steel in 11 months of 2009, yet the figure displays 2.6 percent decline compared to the same period in 2008. Likewise, Qatar produced 938,000 tons of crude steel in aforementioned period displaying 31.4 percent drop compared to the preceding year.
With 14.3 percent drop, production of crude steel in Egypt reached to 4,988,000 tons in 2009, hence the African country can be named as the third major steel maker in the Middle East. Based on the aforementioned facts, it can be concluded that in 11 months of 2009 only Iran has not witnessed the decline of crude steel production in the Middle East.

Sales volume of long and flat products at Egyptian Iron & Steel Company exceeded 553,000 tons in 2009. According to the information from company sources, flat products consist more than 50percent of the overall sales while long products are concentrated mainly on sections which constitute approximately 28 percent of the overall sales of Egyptian Iron & Steel Company which is considered the largest producer of sections in the Egyptian market.
Most of the volumes are directed to the local market drawing 87.5 percent of the overall sales versus 12.5 percent for export markets being mainly Arab and some European countries in 2009. The drop in flat and long steel prices during 2009 by 35 percent and 30 percent respectively compared to 2008 resulted in a dramatic decline in the profitability along with declined demand causing more than 34 percent fall in crude steel production, 31.5 percent in finished products and flats in particular declining 37.5 percent in 2009 when compared to 2008.
For 2010, the company intends to reach the production levels of 2008 and is planning to produce 850,000 tons of crude steel. Furthermore, among projects intended to be carried out during this year through 2012, the company started building of new oxygen plant projected to become operational in 2012, in addition to completing an overhaul for blast furnace no. 2 and establishing an integrated information system.

According to the data issued by metal trading enterprise Ukrainian Mining and Metallurgical Company, in January this year, Ukraine consumed 377,400 tons of rolled steel products down by 11.3 percent MoM but up by 31 percent YoY.
During the first month of 2010, the share of imports in the domestic rolled steel product market amounted to 20.5 percent up by four times compared to January 2009.
During the month in question, the country registered a YoY increase in the consumption of all types of rolled steel products, excluding rebar, the supplies of which decreased by 59.2 percent compared to January 2009. At the same time, compared to December 2009, Ukraine saw an increase in the consumption of HRC and angles, while the supplies of rebar decreased by three times.
In January this year, Ukraine main consumers of rolled steel remained the pipe sector, which increased its share of overall consumption in the domestic steel market by 8.2 percent MoM to 28.2 percent. The local metal trade sector saw its share of rolled steel consumption in January increase by 6.3 percent MoM to 26.8 percent while the machine building sector held a 17.3 percent share of the market.