Billet
Last Monday Iran market was opened after a long weekend but it wasn’t active and every body was waiting for a movement in sentiment. Billet size 150 mm was priced USD688-691/mt on truck in Anzali including 4% VAT but no deal was done. Till Tuesday sections market was depressed and didn’t let billet market improve.
By Wednesday suddenly market sentiment was changed sharply. Billet importers faced with around 10% rise in exchange rate ( Rial rate dropped by 10% against US Dollar). In Iran importing billet is mostly possible via Usance L/C, so billet suppliers stopped offering. At the other side, in IME (Iran Mercantile Exchange) transactions were stopped and this made sections prices surging upward and influence billet price too.
At the end of the week billet size 150 mm was around USD740 and size 125 mm around USD749 on truck in Anzali including 4% VAT. But finished transaction prices were lower. Many traders were not interested in offering, just wait for a stable market.
The sudden change in Iran market situation made import inquiries surging upward at high tonnages, so foreign suppliers increased their offer prices, what they were waiting for more than 2 months.
Long products
During week 23, I-beam price in Iran market increased by around USD10-19/mt per day as market was faced with limited supply from Leader producer Isfahan Steel mill. But debar price dropped at the beginning of last week. The reason was that cheap priced debars purchased last months were injected to the market, but the main factor was lack of demand.
By Wednesday after exchange rate was increased by the government and after that nothing was transacted at IME, prices surged upward suddenly. At this situation debar price was around USD863-891/mt.
Many small traders used the situation to sell their cheap stocks and this made market stable. At the other side, sudden USD48/mt rise in prices made end users stop buying to help the market stabilize.
Other long products had an upward week. By Wednesday angle and UPN sellers stopped offering and this trend continued till the end of last week.
Sections traders are paying attention to billet price and Isfahan Steel mill supply level in IME. Every body knows that prices were up due to exchange rate change and low supply not because of higher demand. It’s expected that during coming week prices be more stable but high prices will make demand level drop more. If the current situation continues, it would make investments get out of steel market and go to exchange market. As price rise in steel market is lower than exchange rate rise. Another factor is that steel market has the problem of liquidity.
Flat products
Last week HDG price was upward in Iran market. During last 6 months there had been a big difference between domestic and global prices so this made import levels very limited. HDG producers were not interested in supplying because of small different between CRC and HDG price.
Last week sudden surge in exchange rate made HDG up to around USD1, 327/mt. But many sellers had stopped offering due to ambiguity in supply- demand level when this happened.
HDG market inventory is so limited. Size 1 mm and higher is in high demand, so HDG market will continue improving. But at the moment it wouldn’t be higher than USD1,420/mt.
CRC market was so silent last week and when Iranian Rial was devalued against US Dollar, sellers stopped offering. Low domestic prices had made importing CRC so scarce and Mobarake Steel supply policy have decreased market inventories during last months.
As HDG price has increased suddenly, CRC price would raise by USD95/mt. Some deals which finished last Thursday were USD76-95/mt higher than prices on Tuesday.
HRC market is heavily under pressure by low supply. HRC 2.5 and 3 mm thick were offered USD29-38/mt higher. For Mobarake steel mill products, prices were higher for sizes up to 15 mm thickness. Oxin Steel and Kavian Steel are decreasing supply level day by day, so it’s expected that beside rise in HRC base price, its low supply will make the rise more.
Iran Steel Service Center