I-beam prices are still coming down in the Iranian domestic market. 140-180 mm I-beam sizes are already being transacted by local traders at $910-1,040/mt on ex-works Tehran basis for immediate delivery, while this material stood at a price range of $1,100-1,200/mt in early August and at $1,170-1,290/mt in mid-July. A declining trend has been in evidence in the Iranian market since early July 2008, reflecting the trend seen in steel markets worldwide. The price decreases in long and flat products in the Iranian market are still continuing, though a slowdown has been seen in recent weeks .
Iran's main I-beam supplier, Esfahan Steel, has substantially cut its delivery dates for local traders in order to encourage them to make purchases; at the same time, however, the producer has not made any decrease to its I-beam prices in the last two to three weeks. The latest supply from Esfahan Steel to the market consisted of 21,000 mt of 140-180 mm I-beam sizes sold on September 14 through the Iran Mercantile Exchange at $940/mt ex-works for immediate delivery. However, sales of 21,000 mt of material in a stagnant market shows that some buyers believe that I-beam prices will not decline much further in the coming period,
while many traders are worried that Esfahan Steel may reduce its prices significantly - just as Mobarakeh Steel did - and thereby cause them to incur heavy losses.
Production of I-beam in Iran is in the main monopolized by Esfahan Steel, but this producer is quite unable to meet all of the market demand. Meanwhile, the other domestic producers do not have large capacities. As regards imports, in the current Iranian year the I-beam import volume has declined strongly in comparison with last year, and, as a result, some traders may be expecting a more promising market for I-beam in the future. In the first five months of the current Iranian year (21.03.2008-20.08.2008), Iran imported 145,000 mt of I-beam while it imported 475,000 mt in the corresponding period of last year, according to Iran's customs statistics.