Billet
Last week billet price surged upward in Iran. It was up by USD 75/mt to USD 664/mt fot northern Iranian port including 3% VAT. Some market participants offered about $680/mt, but no transaction was done at this level.
Fired up by speculative sentiment, limited import level and rebar price increase, billet price is upward in Iran market.
At the moment many traders are absent in the market. After they come back and when billet inventories at Anzali port stockpiles come to the market, a more stable price is expected for billet. Nevertheless supply is much lower than demand.
Exporters are offering billet at USD 570-610/mt cfr Iranian northern port by sight LC. Long term payment has become rare since 2 weeks ago.
Long products
The news of import collapse and no long term deal in sections market, lead to a terrible sentiment in Iran. Last week prices in Iran Mercantile Exchange increased too and market prices were upward anyway.
As billet price is increasing globally, speculators made rebar price up in absence of main traders, by around USD40/mt to USD 800/mt including 3% VAT. Market participants mostly imply that this price rise is irrational and cannot be accepted by the market. It’s likely that rebar price will drop a little and become more stable.
Angle and UNP prices were up around USD 40/mt last week in Iran. Nevertheless Long products market in Iran needs to wait for more stable situation, but as Ramadan is coming, it shouldn’t be long term waiting.
Flat products
Despite the fact that many steel mills, consumers of flat products were not working last week, prices started upward trend from last Saturday. 2 mm HRC price was up by USD 10/mt and CRC around USD 18/mt.
2.5-15 mm hot rolled coil from Mobarake Steel mill was offered up by USD 5/mt and this trend continued till the end of the week. Especially after midweek holiday, 2 mm HRC was up to USD 700/mt but no deal was done at more than USD 670/mt including 3% VAT.
3-15 mm HRC and Kavian Steel mill’s HRP of 15 mm and up increased about USD 10 and 15/mt respectively.
At the end of the week no one was offering CRC and every body confused in the market. The main reason for flat products price increase was absence of leader traders and rumors in the market. In fact flat products market is heavily influenced by policy and low inventories made it worse.
Import offer prices are increasing too. 2 mm HRC is offering up to USD 630/mt cfr Anzali port, CRC up to USD 750/mt cfr and Chinese HDG is USD 850/mt cfr in spot market.
There are many CRC parcels on the way to Iran. HDG inventory is high too. But HRC 2 mm has lower inventory compared to previous months, as import level is limited.
At the moment Iran flat products market is waiting for Mobarake Steel mill new offerings at Iran Mercantile Exchange to see what would happen then.
Iran Steel Service Center