Notwithstanding the appearance of some bullish sentiment among market insiders lately, Iranian producers have faced resistance from tender participants to accept higher slab prices.
Consequently, two cargoes, for 40,000 mt of steel slab each, for shipment at the end of February, have been transacted at $560/mt FOB BIK this week, unchanged compared to the price levels fixed in the previous tender closed in the first half of January. Another major Iran-based slab producer has also floated a tender for 20,000-30,000 mt of slab for export, SteelOrbis has learned.
Given the current prices for imported slabs in Asia - the main destination for ex-Iran material - at $645-655/mt CFR and freight from Iran to Asia being assessed at around $60/mt, Iranian slab producers will likely seek higher prices in the coming sales.