Iran: Billets exports market active, domestic trade down

The Iranian billets exports market uptrended post-Chinese holidays with decent number of billet export deals concluded in the last few days. In contrast, domestic trade was down with the mills more focused on exports.

• An Iranian mill reportedly concluded a parcel of 30,000 tonnes (t) of steel billets (150mm, 3SP) for exports, sources informed SteelMint. The shipment is likely to be scheduled for Nov'21. According to market sources, the deal was concluded at a price level of $642.5/t, FOB Iran.
  
  
• Another Iranian mill closed export tenders of 40,000 t each for steel billets and slabs at $640/t and $660/t, respectively. According to market sources, the shipment is likely to be scheduled for Nov'21. Gradual easing of power curbsand removal of export restrictions in Iran should pave the way for greater exports, SteelMint notes.
  
  

Active tender:

Esfahan Steel Company (ESCO), one of Iran's leading steel exporters, floated an export tender for 30,000 t of steel billets, as per market sources. The shipment is likely to be scheduled for Nov'21.

According to data maintained with SteelMint, the Chinese rebar futures contract for Jan'22 delivery closed at RMB 5,465/t (849$/t), up by RMB 44/t ($7/t) d-o-d on 14 Oct but which was w-o-w down by RMB 285/t ($44/t).

Domestic billet trade on IME down 21%: Domestic billet sales on the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) were down by around 21% w-o-w with marginal cut in the average price. Around 69,480 t of billets were traded in the last one week at an average sales price of 129,052 Rial on IME, as per data maintained by SteelMint.

Last week, around 87,760 t of billets were traded at an average sales price of 129,319 Rial on the IME.