Iran: Billets export prices up sharply in recent deals amid ongoing geopolitical conflict

Iran's billets export trade prices have moved up sharply by around $65/t w-o-w in the recent deals concluded by steel mills.

• An Iranian mill has concluded an export deal for 20,000 t of steel billets, sources informed SteelMint. The deal was concluded at $670-675/t FOB for Apr'22 shipment. Iran's billets export prices have risen sharply by around $70/t compared to the last-concluded tenders in mid-Feb.
  
  
• In an another export deal, around 30,000 t of steel billets were booked at around $680/t FOB for end-Apr shipment.
  
  
• Iran's leading steel mill - KSC had floated a tender for 80,000 t of billets and slabs. The tender is still under negotiation till the time of publishing this report.
  
  

Global steel prices are rallying due to higher raw materials prices and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Iran is, somehow, trying to take advantage of the current issues in CIS and filling the supply gap that has occurred due to the war.

Iran's domestic rebar prices up sharply

Iran's domestic billets and rebar prices rose sharply on strong demand due to Russia-Ukraine crisis and rising export prices, sources informed SteelMint.

Domestic billets trade on IME up significantly

Domestic billets sales on the Iranian Mercantile Exchange increased by 30%, and the average price was also up around 4% to w-o-w.

Around 94,150 t of billets were traded on IME in the week under review at an average sales price of 133,899 Rial. Last week, about 82,825 t of billets were traded on IME at an average sales price of 133,852 Rial.

Outlook

SteelMint notes that a sharp hike in Iranian billets export prices is likely amidst disruptions in supplies from CIS countries.