Iran: Domestic billet trade picks up, exports market silent

The Iranian domestic market has spurted by around 70% after an announcement by the Iranian ministry of industry. As per the new rule, steel manufacturers have to restrict their sales only through the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME).

The new rule applies to all companies that produce steel ingots or use these as a raw material to produce varied steel products - billets, blooms, slabs, sheets, etc.

The IME is a commodities exchange where farm, industrial and petrochemical products are traded via the spot and future markets.

Domestic billet trade on IME up sharply: Domestic billet sales on the IME increased by around 70% w-o-w with 5% hike in the average price. Around 118,180 tonnes of billets were traded in the last one week at an average sales price of 135,526 Rial on IME, as per data maintained with SteelMint.

Last week, around 69,480 t of billets were traded at an average sales price of 129,052 Rial on the IME.

Billet exports market awaits outcome of new tender

The Iranian billets exports market seems muted as no fresh deals have been concluded recently after the sharp drop in Chinese rebar futures prices. Iran's leading mill KSC has floated a tender for 40,000t of billet and 40,000t of slabs for Dec'21 shipments which is due towards the end of this week.

Iranian mills were looking for $640-645/t FOB levels for billet exports, but the market is awaiting the tender outcome. According to data maintained with SteelMint, the Chinese rebar futures contract for Jan'22 delivery closed today at RMB 4,712/t ($737/t), which was w-o-w down by RMB 264/t ($41/t).