Billet
Billet price had a downward trend from
USD 712/mt to USD 698/mt ex-work including VAT, which was affected by lower ex-rate
and the government's efforts to decline prices.
Long Products
Rebar price went down from USD 975/mt to USD 940/mt
during last week in Iran domestic market. Government's
intervention, lower ex-rate and inflationary expectations were the reasons
behind downward trend of rebar price.
I-beam downward trend was very noticeable as
declined from USD 1269/mt to USD 1119/mt. Higher supply level along
with market's expectations towards future price trend were the main factors behind
this trend.
Flat Products
Price of 2 mm thickness HRC ex-work Mobarakeh was USD 1351 /mt on
last Saturday, which reached USD 1270 /mt by Tuesday.
According to the market sentiment affected by ex-rate decline, Oxin co HRP also
decreased from USD 1322/mt to USD 1239/mt, this product’s price has reached its
bottom.
Lower ex-rate and market participants cencerns
about more downward trend made CRC downward from USD 2158/mt to USD 1944/mt.
Lower currency rater and downward HRC price
made HDG market also downward from USD 1931/mt to USD 1843/mt ex-work including
VAT.
Weekly Analysis:
In the global market, prices are still bullish. Iron ore has
remained almost stable while slab and billet price have grown. Iranian mills are
facing with strong demand for these two products, therefore, export market
remains strong.
In the domestic market, despite upward prices
in the world market as previous last weeks, the government is strongly trying
to reduce prices. What is certain is
that the government is strongly trying to lower prices in the domestic market
and its goal is to sell billet in the range of USD 631-702/mt inclduing VAT,
for this reason market will exprience in the coming weeks higher supply of DRI
and billet and decrease in their base prices at IME. The re-rollers are
dealing with a shortage of billet caused by cancellation of transactions at IME
in early March, so they welcome the method, but the government's behavior
creates a negative attitude towards the market trend.
As a result, demand
will drop as we have seen, especially since there is practically only one
working week left for the market till New Year Holidays, and during this week
until the middle of April, billet producers and re-rollers will have time to rebuild
their warehouses. After that, the
government will again be involved in the conflict between price and demand. On one hand, prices
are downward, on the other hand, demand is lagging behind until prices reach
the bottom level, so the market will take a wait-and-see policy until the end
of April, when the future outlook would be more clear.
CBI weekly average ex-rate for Steel
Products (SANA): Rials 285,000/ 1USD
13 March 2023
M.Chitsaz
Iran Steel News Bulletin
IFNAA.IR
IRSTEEL.COM