Merchant bar prices have continued to soar in the local Iranian market in the last few weeks. The daily price increases seen for merchant bar and other long steel products encourage some buyers to purchase, especially when they are sure they will be able to sell off the material without delay. Currently it is felt in the market that there is a risk in building up stocks under existing conditions given the strong price increases already seen, as there is thought to be a strong possibility that prices could start coming back down in the weeks ahead.
Iranian origin 140-180 mm I-beam sizes are currently being transacted by local traders at $754-793/mt ex-stock Tehran, up from $730-755/mt the week before and also up from $705-720/mt three weeks ago. 200 mm I-beam is now priced at $1,010/mt (-$100 /mt), 220 mm is priced at $917/mt (+$38/mt), 240 mm is priced at $845/mt (+$8/mt) and the price of 270 mm I-beam stands at $840/mt (-$20/mt) - all prices are on ex-stock Tehran basis and have been compared with last week's levels.
The Iranian U-beam market, which is mainly supplied by imports from the CIS and China, has been on an uptrend in recent weeks. 80-180 mm U-beam (Russian origin) sizes are currently standing at about $825-855/mt ex-stock Tehran, compared to about $790-825/mt the week before and $765-770/mt three weeks ago .
There have been significant price increases in the Iranian angles market during recent weeks. Iranian origin angles of 30 x 30 mm - 120 x 120 mm size are now priced at $795-875/mt ex-stock Tehran, up from $760-815/mt the week before and up from $730-780/mt three weeks ago. Iran does not import so many angles as local mills supply most of the domestic market demand for this product.