Domestic Demand for hot-rolled Coil Improves

Buying activity in Iran’s flats market demonstrated some improvement after the New Year’s holidays, mainly amid buyers’ need to replenish stocks.

The rise in demand was seen mostly for the domestic material, while there was also some interest in imported hot-rolled coil.

Over the past couple of weeks, Iranian customers were traditionally giving preference to locally-produced HRC after a long period of slack demand, bringing up prices in the physical market.

“As there was a long period of holidays in Iran, there was no activity in the market at all, while currently everybody is interested in purchasing,” a trader told Metal Expert.

Iranian New Year’s holiday started March 21 and ended April 2.

In the import segment, some negotiations for Chinese origin of HRC were reported amid sharp downturn in pricing. As a result, market participants are discussing the price idea of around $450/ton CFR, citing demand from Iran’s pipe segment.

“As prices decreased sharply, we are currently negotiating with a Chinese exporter at about $450/ton CFR,” a market participant said.

Offers for Chinese cold-rolled coil were heard at $600/ton CFR. Hot dipped galvanized coil for 0.7 mm thickness with 100 g/m2 coating was heard at $590/ton CFR, although no deals have been fixed yet.

Official HRC offer prices from Russia’s MMK added €10‑15/ton over the month and are standing at €445‑450/ton FOB Astrakhan ($487‑492/ton CFR Anzali) for May production. Supplier’s CRC is nowadays priced at €520/ton FOB Astrakhan ($590/ton CFR).

Prices from Kazakhstan are also considered acceptable. ArcelorMittal Temirtau is currently offering HRC at $445‑460/ton FOB ($453‑468/ton CFR). “They have some significant volumes for sale in port now,” a market source said. However, no deals have been reported so far.

The activity on Iran Mercantile Exchange increased over a month, reflecting certain improvement in domestic demand. In particular, Iran’s largest steelmaker Mobarakeh Steel Company has sold 61,731 tons of HRC, 51,999 tons of CRC and 4,293 tons of HDG since the beginning of April.