In recent weeks merchant bar prices (excluding large I-beam sizes) have been on a downward trend in the local Iranian market, in line with the general reduction seen in prices of most long steel products in Iran. In addition, the transaction volume for merchant bar has declined in the last few weeks, as the falling price trend has caused some buyers to be reluctant to enter the market. Besides, the weakening of demand due to the approach of the winter season is another factor which makes a recovery of the market more unlikely at present.
Iranian origin 140-180 mm I-beam sizes have in the past week been transacted by local traders at $735-765/mt ex-stock Tehran, down from $740-780/mt ex-stock Tehran the week before and also down from $762-778/mt the week before that. However, in the past week 200 mm I-beam has been priced at $960/mt (+$30/mt), 220 mm has been priced at $866/mt (+$3/mt), the price of 240 mm has been at $825/mt (+$15/mt) while the price of 270 mm I-beam has been at $1,110/mt (+$90/mt) - all prices are on ex-stock Tehran basis and have been compared to the previous week's levels.
Prices have been stable for most sizes of U-beam in the past week week. U-beam (Russian origin) of 80-180 mm sizes have been at about $840-880/mt ex-stock Tehran, down from $845-885/mt the week before and also down from $875-920/mt two weeks previous. European origin 80-180 mm U-beam sizes, which usually stand at higher prices than the equivalent CIS material, have been standing at about $890-900/mt ex-stock Tehran, unchanged week on week.Chinese origin U-beam does not hold any significant share at present in the local market, whereas local traders had previously been importing large quantitites of Chinese U-beam.
Iranian origin angles of 30 x 30 mm - 120 x 120 mm sizes have been standing at about $800-860/mt ex-stock Tehran, down from $815-870/mt the week before and also down from $835-910/mt two weeks previous. Iranian rolling mills which produce angles made some attempts to raise their angles prices in the local market a few weeks ago; however, weak demand as well as the soft prices of billets did not allow them to keep their prices at high levels.