Iran: Billet export prices remain supported on active deals

Iranian mills remained active in the semi-finished steel export market with a flurry of billet and slab export deals getting concluded this week.

• A leading Iranian steel mill floated a tender for 30,000 t each of billets and slabs. As per sources, the tender was concluded at $555/t and $560/t, respectively, on FOB basis. The shipment is scheduled for early-Mar’22.
• Another mill from Iran also concluded 30,000 t of billets (3SP, 150 mm) at $550/t FOB earlier this week for end-February shipment.

SteelMint’s assessment of Iran’s billet export (3SP) prices tood at $553/t FOB on 18 Jan’21, stable w-o-w.

Billet prices fall, rebar prices stable: Billet prices in Iran witnessed a downtrend due to limited demand, while rebar prices are stable amid heavy snow and cold weather in the region, sources informed SteelMint.

Domestic billet trade jumps over two-fold on IME: Domestic billet sales on the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) increased sharply by 113% w-o-w. However, the average sales price dropped marginally by 1% w-o-w.

Around 108,690 t of billets were traded on IME in the week ending 20 Jan’22 at an average sales price of 124,219 Rial/t. Last week, about 50,940 t of billets were traded on IME at an average price of 125,096 Rial/t.

Till a few days back only rebar producers were allowed to purchase billets on IME but on 18 Jan’21 this limitation was revoked. Now, even traders are allowed to buy billets on the exchange and, therefore, demand has increased.