Billet
Billet price was
upward during last week in Iran domestic market from USD 700/mt to USD 763/mt ex-work
including VAT. Cancellation of transactions at IME ( Iran Mercantile Exchange)
fueled market upward trend.
Long Products
Limited billet supply level made rebar
price up from USD 808/mt to USD 875/mt.
Inflationary expectations and upward exchange
rate caused I-beam average price to rise from USD 1064/mt to USD 1139/mt.
Flat Products
Price of 2 mm thickness HRC ex-work Mobarakeh was USD 1235 /mt on
last Sunday, which reached USD 1274 /mt by Wednesday. Higher slab price and
upwrd exchange rate made market upward as supply level was also limited.
Lower supply level and higher slab price made Oxin co HRP price up
from USD 1117/mt to USD 1142/mt.
Lack of supply made CRC price up from USD 1789/mt to USD 1842/mt.
Upward HRC price and ex-rate higher level made HDG price also up
from USD 1775/mt to USD 1902/mt.
Weekly Analysis:
In world market, billet
price has remained stable, but slab price has improved a little while price of
scrap has not changed much recently. Market insiders are mostly waiting for
better demand in China in second quarter of this year. Chinese market will
strengthen, though, even if prices do not rise, but China's demand at least
promises price stability in global markets. While estimates shows that the
earthquake in Turkey would have a loss of tens of billions of dollars, market
insiders consider second half of the year very important. As Turkey will seek
to repair the damages in the second half of the year, this will increase demand
for scrap and rebar. Most of the people involved believe that the price trend
will not be downward this year at the global level.
In the domestic market, the
production bottleneck has reached its peak due to the pressure of gas shortage.
Mills mostly have used up their inventory level during the last three months,
while their finished product inventory level have reached the lowest level too.
Many flat products and
rebar producers are faced with delays in delivery and shortage of many sizes.
The cancellation of billet and rerbar transactions at IME was a signal to the
market that the stock market will not allow prices to increase further. Authorities
hope that this policy will help market as new supplys would arrive in next two
weeks which will help market prices decrease. But the main issue is exchange
rate upward trend which will affect the market a lot. Ex-rate upward trend will
stimulate inflationary expectations, and this has encouraged traders to buy
more.
CBI weekly average ex-rate for Steel
Products (SANA): Rials 285,000/ 1USD
20 Feb 2023
M.Chitsaz
Iran Steel News Bulletin
IFNAA.IR
IRSTEEL.COM