The Iranian billet export market remained largely quiet this week with mills awaiting the outcome of their export tenders, where they are also eyeing higher prices.
Iran’s leading steel mill, KSC, floated an export tender for 30,000 tonnes (t) of billets (130mm) for end-Jul’21 shipments. They are yet to close the tender. Considering increased bids from China, they are still negotiating the deal.
Another Iranian mill was reported to have concluded a billet export deal at $609/t FoB earlier this week.
Another steel exporter from Iran expecting prices at around $620-630/t FoB., However, they are fully booked till Sept’21 and not looking for any sale now.
According to data maintained with SteelMint, the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) rebar futures Oct’21 contract, on 8 Jul’21, inched down on a d-o-d basis to RMB 5,393/t ($831/t).However, on a weekly basis, futures increased by RMB 247/t. Tracking the hike in futures, domestic billet prices in Tangshan, on 23 Jun’21 increased to RMB 5,000/t ($771/t), ex-Tangshan, including 13% VAT.
One of the leading steel exporters in Iran, while talking to SteelMint, said, “Domestic demand is weak at present. Due to hot weather, there are power cuts for some hours at steel and cement-based companies which resulted in lower production.”
Despite falling global prices and weak demand, Iranian billet producers raised their prices on the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME). However, the trade volumes for Jul’21 have decreased compared to the end of last month. Average volume traded on the IME this week was at around 89,600 t at an average price of 1,32,462 Rial.
Iran’s steel production at 3.57 mn t: Iran’s steel production during the first two months of the current Islamic year (21 Mar-20 May’21) stood at 3.57 million tonnes (mn t), up by 10% y-o-y. Production of long steel was recorded at 1.94 mn t, up by 16% y-o-y while flat steel output saw a y-o-y rise of 2% to 1.63 mn t.
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