According to market sources, the downtrend of prices in the local Iranian hot rolled coil (HRC) market have continued over the past week, decreasing by $27.5/mt on average to $550-560/mt ex-warehouse, including nine percent VAT. Besides the weakness of demand, the official announcement that customs duty on import flat steel will be decreased to 10 percent from 20 percent is considered as another reason for the downtrend of domestic HRC prices in the country.