Billet
On last
Saturday, billet price was USD 483/mt. With the exchange rate falling on
Monday, the market collapsed. Everyone was waiting for the supply of billet in
IME on Tuesday but it didn’t happen.
All eyes were on rebar deals at IME on
Wednesday. By Wednesday, billet price reached USD 429 /mt, while some mills were
offering billet at less than USD 422/mt.
Meanwhile, DRI
supply level is still facing problems, but the decrease in the price of billet
stopped trading and this made DRI price downward, as Mianeh Co DRI base price was
heard at USD 232/mt, which is at least USD5/mt lower than a week ago.
There are two views
in the market at the moment:
At first
glance, the stronger one expects prices to fall slightly and remain at the same
level. This group argues that ex-rate is falling and demand is falling, both in
the domestic market and for exports. The group believes that prices will
return, but require a one-month break.
The second view
believes that the depreciation of ex-rate on one hand will lead to a rapid
decline in exports, as a result of which the exchange rate will rise again, and
this will quickly push the market upwards.
Long
Products
Rebar market started
last week at USD 517/mt on Saturday, reached its peak on Sunday and broke the
record of USD 535/mt, but after that, started to drop to USD 483/mt on
Wednesday. Average price of I-beam sizes 14-18 on last Saturday was USD 665 /mt,
it reached USD 673/mt on Sunday, started to decline and decreased to USD 622 /mt.
Flat
Products
Price of 2 mm thickness HRC was USD 848/mt
ex-work Esfahan on Saturday and USD 773/mt ex-work Ahwaz until it reached USD 726
/mt in Esfahan on Wednesday. HRC thickness 3 -15 mm of Mobarakeh Steel co,
which was priced at USD 712/mt on Saturday, decreased to USD 626/mt by last
Wednesday. Downward trend was also seen for Oxin co HRP thickness 10-40 mm and
the average price decreased from USD 780 /mt to USD 717/mt. Kavian Steel co HRP
sizes 15 to 25 mm was offered at USD 645/mt on Saturday, but it dropped to USD 632/mt
by Wednesday.
CRC thickness 0.40 -2.5 declined from USD
1071/mt on last Saturday to USD 1012 /mt by Wednesday. This trend was also seen
in HDG market and its price decreased from USD 1112/mt on last Saturday to USD 1060/mt.
The downward trend in prices is only due to the prevailing psychological
atmosphere in the market and there is no other reason for it.
CBI
weekly average ex-rate for Steel Products (SANA): Rials 213.411 / 1USD
27 July
2020