The head of iron and steel union says the low consumption of steel products has caused declines in the prices of reinforcing bars and iron beams, ISNA reported. The downturn in the market has forced the suppliers to store up their iron and steel products, said Mohammad Azad. However, he added that the housing market boomed during the first week after the Nowruz holidays. “During the first working week of the new year, as much as 350,000 tons of iron beams were offered at Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) while nothing was supplied to the iron market, which further decreased the prices”, Azad said. He added that rebar is sold at between 15,100 and 15,200 rials (around 50 cents based on official exchange rate) per kilogram while beam’s prices stand at 15,800 to 16,000 rials (around 56 cents) per kilogram. According to the union head, currently imports are mainly restricted to products that are not domestically produced such as big beams of wider than 30 centimeters. He emphasized that the anticipated boom in construction sector this year could positively influence the iron and steel market.
