Steel prices plunge in Abu Dhabi

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