Billet
Average price of billet in Iran domestic market on last Saturday
was USD 381 /mt ex-work including 9% VAT, which reached USD 385 /mt by
Wednesday. The price trend was downward until Monday as rebar producers could
not afford to buy billet at USD 380/mt so the market started to decline, lower
ex-rate also affected downward trend. But
on Monday, as foreign exchange markets opened, billet price rose from USD 377
/mt to USD 385/mt over the weekend.
By beginning of last week DRI was traded at base price of USD
203 /mt, but by the end of the week supply level was very limited due to
rainfall and transportation problems in the south of Iran, so there was no
clear price trend at the end of the week. Most market participants predict that
price of billet will not go down due to lower DRI supply level and in fact
there is no more room for price reduction.
Long Products
Average price of rebar
on Saturday was USD 433/mt ex-work including
VAT.
With lower currency rate, on Monday price was USD 419 /mt, but rose from
Tuesday to USD 424/mt on Wednesday. 2 weeks ago average price of rebar was USD 419/mt.
Our prediction was that due to DRI supply trend and the rainfall problem affecting
its transportation, any price drop would be temporary. Numbers also indicate
this conclusion. Some rumors were
talking about new price of rebar at IME this month would be around USD 9/mt
higher than last month, therefore sellers became ready for upward trend in
coming days. But also there are some cheap purchased cargoes which have not
been delivered yet and won’t let rebar price upward trend become something easy.
Actually rebar market is expected to correct itself in coming days unless
billet price become upward due to the delay in production.
I-beam price was
almost stable during last week in Iran. On Saturday, the average price of sizes
14 - 18 was USD 485/mt ex-work Esfahan, falling to USD 484/mt on Sunday, but
rose from Monday onward to USD 489 /mt ex-work including 9% VAT by the weekend.
Flat Products
HRC
2 mm thickness started last week at USD 535 /mt ex-work Esfahan and USD 526 /mt
ex-work Ahwaz. By Sunday prices dropped by USD 9 /mt but from Monday became
upward again as by end of the week Mobarakeh Steel co HRC was USD 549 /mt
ex-work Esfahan and Ahwaz product was USD 522 /mt ex-work including 9% VAT.
HRC
thickness 3-5 mm price trend was not clear due to supply side unclear data. For
thickness 6-15 mm prices were fluctuating from USD 592 /mt to USD 588 /mt and
finally by end of the week became USD 611/mt.
Oxin
co 10-40 mm thickness HRP was traded at an average of USD 596/mt on Saturday,
but rose to USD 601/mt by Wednesday. The same trend was observed for Kavian co
HRP, which ranged from USD 566 /mt on Saturday to USD 568/mt by the weekend. Some
sizes of Oxin co HRP is almost scarce in the market and seems that the mill is
paying more attention to its export trade than domestic market.
CRC
had a quiet market last week in Iran, and the average price of USD 741/mt
changed slightly on Wednesday and dropped to USD 738 /mt, which was due to the
decline in prices of 0.90mm or higher thicknesses.
HDG
price became downward by beginning of the week due to ex-rate issue and falling
prices for the seven diamonds co, but improved slightly by the end of the week,
from USD 753/mt on Saturday to USD 747 /mt on Sunday and then USD 752/mt and
finally on Wednesday, it experienced a slight drop in prices and fell to USD 746/mt.
CBI weekly average ex-rate for Steel Products (SANA): Rials 113.008
/ 1USD
23 Dec, 2019
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Iran Steel News Bulletin