Billet
Price of billet was upward and became almost unavailable at the end
of the week. The average price of sizes 125 and 150 mm, which was USD 390 /mt
by beginning of the week, ended the week at higher than USD 418 /mt ex-work
including 9% value added tax. Reasons behind shortage of billet were:
A: Higher export level of big mills such as Khouzestan Steel co
which currently due to closure of Chinese market for Holidays had chance for receiving
orders. Besides, global billet price has risen and made Iranian billet
interested for buyers, therefore, Iranian mills faced with high level of
inquiries suddenly.
B: Higher scrap price, which passed USD 330 /mt.
C: The gap between supply and demand for billet in Iran.
Long products
Long products were upward and a clear
forecast for maximum price level seems impossible. Average price of debar rose
from USD 446 /mt to USD 455/mt ex-work including 9% VAT. Esfahan Steel co
average price increased by almost 2% from the previous week to USD 380/mt ex-work
excluding 9% VAT. Therefore, average finished price after VAT would be USD 414
/mt. But the mill average sale price of debar in the market was USD 453.5 /mt ex-work
including 9% VAT. Its I-beam sizes 14,16,18 were also USD 493 /mt ex-work
including 9% VAT.
During the first 18 days of current Iranian
Year ( 21 March-7 April ), 224520 tons of all kinds of sections were sold in Iran
Mercantile exchange ( IME) , the figure for previous two months has been 87270
tons and 39908 tons respectively . As we see, this month is filling the gap of
last two months but with a price around 18% higher.
Some market participants expect
average debar price rose to higher than USD 495 /mt ex-work including 9% VAT.
Flat products
Price of HRC 2 mm thickness increased from USD 549
/mt ex-work Esfahan including 9% VAT to USD 555 /mt and from USD 528 /mt
ex-work Ahwaz to USD 534/mt.
Average price for thicknesses 3-15 mm changed from
USD 530/mt to USD 537.5/mt ex-work including 9% VAT.
Oxin co HRP thickness 8-50 mm was in supply
shortage as thickness 10-40 mm base price rose from USD 482/mt to USD 485/mt ex-work excluding 9% VAT. Kavian co also was not in the
market which helped Oxin co prices increase more.
CRC eventually recovered. Average price for thicknesses of 0.48 to
2.5 mm rose from of USD 702.5/mt to USD 711.5/mt. On Monday last week,
Mobarakeh Steel co offered 20 thousand tons of its CRC at a base price of USD 540/mt
, while the previous price was USD 554/mt
ex-work excluding VAT. The reason for
the improvement was supply and demand balancing.
HDG faces a strange phenomenon. The previous offer of Mobarakeh was
at the base price of USD 848 /mt , reduced it to USD 687 /mt during last week. However, the final price
reached USD 891 /mt. However, market did not react to this price change because
average price of thicknesses 0.41 to 1.5 mm, which was USD 853 /mt by beginning
of the week, reached USD861/mt. Market for this product is still competitive.
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CBI
weekly average ex-rate for Steel Products (SANA): Rials 90,834/ 1USD
13 Feb,
2019
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Iran
Steel News Bulletin