CIS billet, which holds the largest share in the Iranian billet market, is already being offered by local traders at $540-550/mt ex-stock Iranian northern port of Anzali for immediate delivery and cash payment - a price which is about $35-40/mt higher than last week's levels. Foreign suppliers of billet have also hiked their prices recently. CIS billet suppliers are now talking about a price range of $440-450/mt CFR Iranian northern ports, up from $370-380/mt just one week ago.
Nowadays, there are high stocks of billet and finished steel products piled at Iran's northern ports of Anzali, Noshahr, Amirabad, etc., just like at Iran's southern ports. Local steel importers usually sell billet and other imported steels on ex-stock Iranian port basis to prevent any extra warehousing and freight charges; however, their business had stagnated greatly for over three months, following the global decline in steel prices observed since last July.
Locally produced billet already stands at a price range of $645-675/mt ex-works, i.e. about $80-100/mt higher than last week's prices. During the current week domestic production billet has been showing a stronger price increase rate compared with imported billet. Buyers have been returning to the local market after global steel prices recently started to enter an upward trend. The result has been higher demand for billet in the local market and this could even develop into a booming market situation if we take an optimistic view of this latest trend.
According to the Iranian customs authorities, Iran imported about 2 million mt of billets in the first seven months (21.03.2008-20.10.2008) of the current Iranian year, while it imported more than 2.3 million mt in the corresponding period of last year and 4.2 million mt of billets in the whole of the last Iranian year.