Buying Weakens in Iranian Flat Steel Import Market

Buying activity in the Iranian flat steel import market dropped last week amid limited demand from pipe and profile industries.

Reduced working hours due to the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan as well as ample stocks of flat steel have allowed Iranian importers to take a wait-and-see position and seek discounts.

Moreover, availability of thin hot rolled coils from local producer Mobarakeh Steel Company is said to be good now, Metal Bulletin reported.

 Hot-Rolled Coil

Russia’s Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, otherwise known as MMK, offered HRC to Iran at €390 ($439) per ton Fob Astrakhan, down by €10 ($11.26) per ton week-on-week.

The estimated cost of freight from Astrakhan to the Iranian northern port of Anzali is $15-16 per ton. Offers for HRC produced by Severstal were heard at €395 ($445) per ton FOB Astrakhan.

The price decrease, however, was not enough to attract customers, which placed bids at €380 ($428) per ton FOB Astrkhan.

This would be equivalent to $443-444 per ton CFR Anzali.

Offers from Kazakhastan’s ArcelorMittal Temirtau were unchanged at $420 per ton FOB Aktau.

The cost of freight from Aktau to the port of Anzali is around $9 per ton.

No bookings were heard over the past week, despite the price being comparatively attractive to the Russian one.

Metal Bulletin’s weekly assessment for import of 2-mm HRC in Iran dropped to $429-444 per ton CFR Iranian ports on Wednesday June 7, down from $429-461 per ton CFR in the prior week.

 Cold-Rolled Coil

Offers for cold-rolled coil from MMK increased to €445 ($501) per ton FOB Astrakhan, up €5 ($ 5.63) per ton over the week.

This was an expected move to increase the price difference between HRC and CRC, sources said.

Severstal-produced CRC was available at €435 ($490) per ton FOB Astrakhan. This would be equivalent to $505-506 per ton CFR Anzali.

CRC offers from ArcelorMittal Temirtau were heard coming at $500 per ton FOB Aktau.

“If there is an order for more than 5,000 tons, the mill is ready to reduce the price to $490 per ton FOB,” a source said.

No new deals were reported last week.

Metal Bulletin’s weekly assessment for CRC imports in Iran widened to $499-509 per ton CFR Iranian ports on June 7, from $499-506 per ton CFR a week earlier.