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.

These are declared border values, not offers. Saudi Arabia reports them; we divide dollars by kilos. 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

Exports

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)

Coated sheet (galvanized and painted) (HS 7210)

Angles, shapes and sections (HS 7216)

Wire rod (HS 7213)

Other markets