Iranian steel producer Mobarekeh Steel Co. is holding a new tender for flat products in which the tonnage allocation for export is 20,000 mt. Since its sales to the local market have recently been indicating a good performance, the producer's export tonnage allocation in this tender is seen to be low as compared to the 24,000 mt of flats export sales in the last tender held in the final week of April.
In the April tender, HRC prices were at $375/mt FOB for India and at $390/mt FOB for the Middle East. In its current export tender, Mobarakeh intends to raise its prices by $20/mt.
Although rumors of the possible implementation of an import tax in the Iranian market have caused a slowdown in demand for imports, purchases from the Iranian domestic market have been continuing at a rapid rate.