Rebar prices are finally climbing up again in Iran's domestic market after a few months of downward movement. Local traders are now offering 12-25 mm rebar sizes at $740-770/mt ex-stock Tehran, up from last week's transaction levels of $640-680/mt and from those of two weeks ago which stood at $685-735/mt. This is the first rising movement experienced in the Iranian rebar market after more than three months of steady price decline.
Local state-owned producers, who were previously having difficulty in selling rebar in the local market, last Monday sold a large quantity of rebar at about $650/mt ex-works in their last supply to the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME). Of course the sales price of rebar produced by state-owned plants has not increased from the levels of one or two weeks ago; however, the increasing demand at the IME as well as the rising prices in the free market both provide indications of a new trend in the local rebar market.
Many Iranian steel producers have recently asked their government to increase the import duty for a lot of long and flat products, and there are some rumors that the Iranian authorities will impose a higher import tax on long and flat products in the near future. Naturally, such reports can create a rush to purchase in the local market while expectations of imminent price increases in other countries' markets can also provide support for the local market.
Iran imported just around 30,000 mt of rebar in the last month of the Iranian year (i.e. in 21.09.2008-20.10.2008), compared to about 90,000 mt of rebar in the same month of last year - according to the Iranian customs authorities. The customs statistics also indicate that Iran imported about 550,000 mt of rebar in the first seven months of this Iranian year (i.e. in 21.03.2008-20.10.2008), compared to about 811,000 mt in the corresponding period of last year.