Iran steel market Trend in Week 04th
,
2019
Billet
Billet market was upward during last week
in Iran. By Wednesday, average price rose by USD 6/mt to USD 395 /mt ex-work including 9% VAT.
Khuzestan Steel co managed to sell 50,000
tons of its billet at base price of USD 363 /mt ex-work excluding VAT at IME while
its initial offer price was USD 358/mt.
Market participants agrees that if the
sale was in cash, price would not change, and the volume of sale would not be
this much. Billet market is faced with liquidity problem.
Mills who produce billet with DRI have
lower production cost, but due to long products market downturns, their
productivity is low. Besides, others who use scrap for billet production have
higher costs. Export has also declined, therefore billet producers are faced
with both domestic and export demand shortage. Many market players believe
billet market won’t change significantly till end of current Iranian year ( 20
March 2019) and any upward trend won’t be more than USD 12.5 /mt.
Long products
After two weeks of quiet
activity due to cold weather, long products market became a little active and average
price of debar rose from USD 447/mt to USD 457/mt ex-work including 9% VAT.
Reasons behind this
activity include:
A: Limited billet supply
B: Lower sales level and
liquidity problems has forced mills to reduce inventory levels, therefore their
delivery time has around two days up to one-week delay.
C: Traders still have inventory,
which is why they begin negotiations with the arrival of a demand, and then the
market rolls back.
D: Khuzestan Steel co
billet sale at IME made debar market active too.
Many market participants
predict that with supply limitation, the price range of debar would be around USD
425 - 463/mt till end of the year in Iran. Actually market would be active
around one month which would make buyers more cautious.
I-beam price also
improved from USD 534/mt to USD 542/mt ex-work including 9% VAT.
Flat products
HRC 2 mm thickness was upward during last week
in Iran, Saba Steel co product price improved from USD 570.5/mt ex-work including 9% VAT
to USD 590.5/mt. Ahwaz Rolling and Tubing co product was in limited supply and
its price rose from USD 544/mt to USD 563/mt.
As Khuzestan Steel co billet price rose at IME, the mill increased its
slab price, but this price increase would be temporary as other mills have high
inventory level and didn’t increase prices.
Mobarakeh steel co products with thickness of 3 to 15 mm, rose from
USD 552/mt to USD 567/mt due to increase in demand and price of this commodity
at IME. Supply of Mobarakeh steel co products
is limited and buyers can not easily buy, if needed, a thousand-tone of
thickness 10 to 15 mm.
Oxin co HRP was faced with price increases in the absence of Kavian
co in the market and high demand of thicknesses 20-30.
CRC price declined during last week in Iran. Lack of demand remains
the main trouble of this product. Its average price was USD 783/mt by Saturday,
which reached USD 780/mt by end of the week.
Despite increase of HDG price at IME, retail market was in an almost
stable position. Its price dropped from USD 922/mt to USD 916/mt, demand for this product is currently equal to
its supply.
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CBI weekly
average ex-rate for Steel Products (SANA): Rials 79,923/ 1USD
Jan 28,
2019
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Iran
Steel News Bulletin