Hot rolled coil prices are now soaring in the local Iranian market, following the same trend seen in long products in this market. Hot rolled coils of 2-5 mm thickness are currently being transacted by local traders at $1,144-1,175/mt on ex-stock Tehran basis for immediate delivery. In spite of the steady soaring of hot rolled coil prices in the global market from the start of 2008, only a moderate increase trend was seen in
Iran's hot rolled coil market up to mid-June - when local market prices stood at around $1,000/mt - with the result that a large gap existed between local and global prices. The current soaring trend in local hot rolled prices in
Iran began to be observed from mid-June onwards.
The latest increase in hot rolled coil prices in
Iran has boosted the prices of other flat products in the local market, including the prices of cold rolled coil, hot dip
galvanized,
tinplate and others. Mobarakeh Steel Company, the main domestic supplier of hot rolled coil, hiked its prices in its latest supply of material to the market. On Monday, June 30, 2008 Mobarakeh sold hot rolled coil at the Tehran Mercantile Exchange in two lots, including 70,000 mt of 2.5-4 mm thickness and 41,500 mt of 4-8 mm thickness at $1,015/mt and $1,114/mt ex-works respectively, both with a delivery period of 50 days.
Mobarakeh's local sales prices for hot rolled coils are still lower than global levels and so there is an expectation among traders of a further price increase. Meanwhile, new sanctions by the European Union and the US against
Iran's nuclear projects could increase import costs substantially in the future.
Iran imported about 1.2 million mt of hot rolled coils in the last Iranian year (20.03.2007-19.03.2008), while a larger volume of imports of this material is expected for the current year.