Steel prices in Saudi Arabia — what was actually paid in 2024
Saudi Arabia has long-product capacity and very little flat-product capacity, and the trade statistics say so plainly: rebar and bar barely appear on the import side while galvanized, colour-coated and cold-rolled sheet arrive in volume through Jeddah and Dammam. The unit values on this page are therefore best read as a flat-product import profile rather than as a picture of the whole market.
Last updated
Computed straight from Saudi Arabia's filings — declared value over declared net mass, one year at a time. How it is done and where it breaks down →
- 4,263,928 tsteel imported (2024)
- 793,302 tsteel exported
- Net importer3,470,626 t short
Imports
What Saudi Arabia imported and what it paid, 2024
| HS | Product | Tonnes | USD/tonne | Value (USD m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7208 | Hot-rolled coil and plate | 2,865,302 | 709 | 2,032.7 |
| 7210 | Coated sheet (galvanized and painted) | 699,262 | 902 | 630.5 |
| 7216 | Angles, shapes and sections | 224,928 | 713 | 160.4 |
| 7213 | Wire rod | 195,715 | 602 | 117.8 |
| 7209 | Cold-rolled sheet | 125,240 | 571 | 71.5 |
| 7217 | Wire | 61,871 | 1,097 | 67.9 |
| 730661 | Welded hollow section, square and rectangular | 31,776 | 774 | 24.6 |
| 7212 | Narrow coated strip | 31,180 | 934 | 29.1 |
| 7214 | Hot-rolled bar | 17,963 | 987 | 17.7 |
| 730630 | Welded tube, circular, non-alloy | 10,691 | 2,374 | 25.4 |
Exports
What Saudi Arabia exported and what it received, 2024
| HS | Product | Tonnes | USD/tonne | Value (USD m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7208 | Hot-rolled coil and plate | 278,627 | 742 | 206.8 |
| 7214 | Hot-rolled bar | 224,960 | 604 | 136.0 |
| 7213 | Wire rod | 189,921 | 575 | 109.1 |
| 7210 | Coated sheet (galvanized and painted) | 40,731 | 991 | 40.4 |
| 7216 | Angles, shapes and sections | 34,826 | 799 | 27.8 |
| 730630 | Welded tube, circular, non-alloy | 8,892 | 1,254 | 11.2 |
| 7209 | Cold-rolled sheet | 7,588 | 952 | 7.2 |
| 730661 | Welded hollow section, square and rectangular | 4,805 | 850 | 4.1 |
| 7217 | Wire | 2,017 | 873 | 1.8 |
| 7212 | Narrow coated strip | 935 | 1,399 | 1.3 |
What the Saudi Arabia numbers say
- Saudi Arabia pays most for welded tube, circular, non-alloy at 2,374 USD per tonne and least for cold-rolled sheet at 571. The 4.2× ratio maps almost exactly onto the gap between coated flat product and construction steel.
- Imports are concentrated: Hot-rolled coil and plate alone is 67 % of the tonnage, which is what a market with local long-product capacity and no flat capacity looks like.
- Sourcing is concentrated, with China holding 92 % of the five biggest lanes on that heading.
- On cold-rolled sheet the paid and received figures are 571 and 952 USD, 381 apart — worth checking against the re-export flow before reading it as a margin.
Buying and selling into Saudi Arabia
- Saudi Arabia runs a structural deficit in flat products: local capacity covers rebar and some coil, so galvanized, pre-painted and cold-rolled sheet are imported in volume, mostly through Jeddah Islamic Port and King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam.
- SASO conformity is compulsory: shipments need a Certificate of Conformity registered in the SABER platform before arrival, and the IECEE or an approved conformity body has to issue it against the product certificate. Budget five to ten working days for the paperwork, in parallel with production.
- Sea freight from Türkiye to Jeddah is typically twelve to sixteen days; to Dammam add the Suez–Bab el-Mandeb routing or ship via Jebel Ali and truck across.
- The market buys on CFR terms far more often than FOB, so compare landed numbers rather than mill prices.
Main supplying countries
Hot-rolled coil and plate (HS 7208)
| Supplier | Tonnes | USD/tonne |
|---|---|---|
| China | 2,595,303 | 699 |
| Japan | 119,250 | 726 |
| Korea, Rep. | 43,108 | 899 |
| Partner 699 | 35,792 | 634 |
| Egypt | 33,843 | 662 |
Coated sheet (galvanized and painted) (HS 7210)
| Supplier | Tonnes | USD/tonne |
|---|---|---|
| China | 390,682 | 836 |
| Korea, Rep. | 127,533 | 923 |
| United Arab Emirates | 68,892 | 954 |
| Japan | 28,846 | 997 |
| Partner 490 | 22,505 | 923 |
Angles, shapes and sections (HS 7216)
| Supplier | Tonnes | USD/tonne |
|---|---|---|
| China | 153,551 | 627 |
| Türkiye | 27,440 | 781 |
| Korea, Rep. | 22,412 | 746 |
| United Arab Emirates | 10,275 | 1,116 |
| Bahrain | 4,519 | 743 |
Wire rod (HS 7213)
| Supplier | Tonnes | USD/tonne |
|---|---|---|
| Egypt | 115,043 | 614 |
| China | 80,515 | 584 |
| United Arab Emirates | 128 | 674 |
| Partner 842 | 16 | 3,262 |
| Austria | 5 | 511 |
Buying into Saudi Arabia?
Shipping into the Kingdom means SABER and a Certificate of Conformity before arrival. Send the specification early and the paperwork runs in parallel with production rather than after it.
How Saudi Arabia import values moved, 2022–2024
Declared import unit value by heading and year, USD per tonne
| Year | Hot-rolled coil and plate | Galvanized and coated sheet | Hot-rolled bar | Angles, shapes and sections | Steel wire | Welded tube, circular |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 932 | 1,335 | 693 | 982 | 1,077 | 1,583 |
| 2023 | 895 | 1,180 | 820 | 1,021 | 1,375 | 1,485 |
| 2024 | 709 | 902 | 987 | 713 | 1,097 | 2,374 |
One row per year, one column per heading this market reported at least three times. No average is taken across the columns: hot-rolled coil and welded tube are different products and a figure combining them would mean nothing. A cell far above its neighbours is not an error but a year in which the mix declared under that code was unusually specialised.
Other markets
Questions about steel prices in Saudi Arabia
What does steel cost in Saudi Arabia?
Customs unit values for 2024 put hot-rolled coil imports into Saudi Arabia at 709 USD per tonne. The Saudi market runs on imported flat product and locally rolled long product, so the flat headings are the ones worth watching.
Does steel imported into Saudi Arabia need SABER certification?
Yes. Products under the SASO regime require a Product Certificate of Conformity and a Shipment Certificate of Conformity through the SABER platform before the goods can clear. Arrange it before shipment, not on arrival.
Which coating class is used in Saudi construction?
Z275 inland and Z350 or heavier on the Gulf coast. Corrosivity climbs steeply within a few kilometres of the shoreline, and a coating class chosen for Riyadh will not last the same number of years in Dammam or Jubail.
Which ports serve Saudi steel imports?
Jeddah on the Red Sea for the west and centre, Dammam and Jubail on the Gulf for the east. Inland haulage from the wrong coast can cost more than the sea freight saved.