Billet
Billet market was downward during last week in Iran. Billet size 150 mm was around USD607-610 /mt on truck in Anzali including 6% VAT at beginning of the week, but finished the week at USD600 /mt. Price of domestic billet size 120 mm was around USD575-579 /mt ex-work including 6% VAT but declined by USD8 /mt by end of the week.
Khouzestan Steel Complex sold 19,000 tones of its billet at base price of USD 563/mt excluding VAT at IME. This base price is not interesting for long products mills. After accounting VAT, transportation fees and converting fees , minimum cost price of long products would be USD656/mt . But last week some producers sold their long products lower than this rate.
At the moment billet producers are facing with two main problems, scrap supply and their liquid capital rate. Some mills stopped production during last week but prices dropped as long products market was downward.
Long products
Long products market was downward as previous weeks. Domestic mills mostly declined prices during last week at least USD12/mt, but there was no interest in buyers. Demand level is very down, though traders prefer having empty warehouses as prices are declining daily. Market participants expect debar price to bottom at USD583/mt in near future.
At the moment Iranian steel mills prefer decreasing production level to have lower costs and more liquidity. Improvement in demand level may be unlikely in coming months due to seasonal factors like every year end. But it is obvious that long products mills yet have some profits as have not stopped production.
Flat products
Hot rolled coil thickness 2 mm was downward during last week in Iran by USD8/mt to USD736/mt on truck in Anzali including 6% VAT.
HRC 2.5-15 mm thickness from domestic leader mill Mobarakeh Steel Co dropped by average USD4/mt, with traders not interested to buy from the mill as there is no profitability in the product at the moment.
Price of HRP 10 and 12 mm thickness from Oxin Co also decreased by up to USD16/mt as supply level improved. Other sizes of the material experienced up to USD12/mt decline in prices as other producer Kavian Steel is trying to get more share of the market.
CRC market experienced a quiet week due to lack of demand despite low inventory. HDG market was also downward by around USD8/mt during last week in Iran.
(Ex-rate: In Exchange Room: Rials 24,847/USD)
Note: Prices have been converted from Rials to USD using exchange room rate as a base.
Iran Steel Service Center