Iran: Billets export prices rebound to one-month high

Iranian billets export market picked up this week after the conclusion of a deal. One of the major billets exporters from Iran had opened an export tender for 30,000 tonnes (t) of billets last week, with the due date on 11 Jan'22. As per sources, the tender has been concluded at $554-555/t FOB.

SteelMint's latest assessment of Iranian billets exports (3 SP) increased by around $5/t w-o-w to $550/t FOB on 11 Jan'22, bouncing back to a one-month high level. The hike comes on the back of higher global billet export offers from other origins on improved bids and rise in Chinese rebar futures.

Domestic billets prices supported, rebar prices fall: Iran's domestic billets prices remained supported on increasing demand from re-rollers while rebar prices witnessed a fall following the Iranian government's plan to reduce DRI prices by up to 5%, sources informed SteelMint.

Domestic billets trade on IME down 56%: Domestic billets sales on the Iran Mercantile Exchange were down by 56% w-o-w. The average sales price also dropped marginally by 1% w-o-w.

Around 50,940 t of billets were traded on IME in the week ending 12 Jan'22 at an average sales price of 125,096 Rial. Last week, about 114,550 t of billets were traded on IME at an average sales price of 126,090 Rial.

Iran's steel production falls y-o-y in Mar-Dec'21: Iran's steel production in the first nine months of the current Persian year (21 Mar-22 Dec'21) fell compared to the corresponding period of last year, according to latest data released by the Iranian Steel Producers Association (ISPA).

The country produced 21.09 million tonnes (mn t) of semi-finished steel in Mar-Nov'21, down 8% y-o-y. Of this, billets and blooms accounted for 12.47 mn t, a significant fall of 13% y-o-y while slabs production was down marginally by 2% y-o-y to 8.62 mn t.