The Iranian steel market has been shaken up by the new price rising trends which have influenced both flat and long products during the past two weeks. The price levels of 2-12 mm HRC sizes have already reached $890-925/mt ex-stock Tehran for immediate delivery; however, most sellers are remaining closed for sales due to the fact they expect even higher prices.
Mobarakeh Steel Company, which is the main Iranian flat products supplier (annual capacity of 4.6 million mt) has hiked its prices considerably. In its material offered last week at the Tehran Mercantile Exchange (TME). Mobarakeh sold hot rolled coil at a price of $760-827/mt. Meanwhile, privately-owned rolling mill Ferro Gilan Complex Co. has been selling its HRC at $910/mt ex-works.
The market fluctuation is so strong that so far there are no stable price levels yet available for HRC. The approach of the Iranian New Year holiday (begins on March 21) usually causes customers to seek to complete significant quantities of purchases ahead of the holiday. This year is no exception and high levels of demand are currently being seen which have pushed prices up higher and higher in recent days. CIS flat products, of which large quantities are imported into Iran, may compensate for the supply shortage in the market and, consequently, may play a role in helping to moderate the market prices. In the Iranian flats market MMK production hot rolled coil has usually been priced a little lower than Mobarakeh material. However, the third resolution of the UN Security Council which targets Iran's nuclear program is in the final stages of its approval by the 15 Security Council members. Naturally, this could create enormous difficulties for traders due to the heavy costs which it would entail.
According to Iranian customs data, Iran imported about one million metric tons of hot rolled coil in the first 10 months of the current Iranian year (21.03.2007-20.01.2008). Consequently, a total HRC import figure of 1.2 million mt can be expected for the whole of the year in question. However, there are strong doubts as to whether such an import flow would continue in the event of the implementation of the third resolution of the UN Security Council.