Iran: Billet export offers continue to remain stable

The Iranian billet export market remained silent for the second consecutive week. The offers have been seen stable for this week as well. The mills have also not seen offering diligently in the export market for this week. However, price indications for Iranian billet export stand at $410-415/t FoB, highlighted mills.

On the other hand, the Iranian government has extended the exercise of discovering the prices by asking the mills to increase the offerings in the domestic market for this week. However, this week's event didn't turn out to be successful, as marketers reported minuscule buying at the Iranian Mercantile Exchange (IME) amid sluggish demand.

In a recent trade event hosted by IME, immensely low billet volumes reported having traded. According to Chilan, 119,387 t billets have been offered, against which only 7,850 t transacted at an average price of IRR 103,199/kg ($394/t).

The marketers believe the production has exceeded domestic consumption, and the lack of demand for billets shows that export restrictions are not justified at all. And to meet the country's foreign exchange needs, steel exports should be taken more seriously and must be facilitated.

However, mills are likely to start offering for the export market any time soon, said SteelMint's credible sources.

Meanwhile, Iran's billet export shipments during Jan-Sep'20 stood at 3.69 mn t. During the nine months of the current calendar year, the country's export shipments have registered a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 2.03%. During the period under consideration (Jan-Sep'20), the country recorded the highest number of export shipments in Aug'20, approximately 0.6 mn t.