As the political unrest in Iran subsides somewhat, rebar prices in the local Iranian market have started to climb. 12-25 mm rebar sizes are now being offered at $580-600/mt ex-stock Tehran by local traders, up from $550-570 on June 18. Although the political tension in Iran after the June 12 presidential election caused some price reductions in the local rebar market, as in the local markets for other steel products, local rebar prices are now on the way back up again.
The main state-owned supplier Esfahan Steel sold several batches of rebar on June 28 through the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME). Esfahan Steel sold the batches in question at $555-736/mt ex-works with 5-85 day delivery, while Esfahan Steel's previous prices stood at around $535-640/mt.
Two ready stock batches of rebar produced by two Turkish producers were sold at $543/mt and $537/mt respectively ex-stock Iranian southern ports via the IME on June 28 - the price of material from the latter producer at the IME stood at $500/mt one week before.
On June 28, state-owned supplier Khorasan Steel sold three ready stock batches of rebar at $560-565/mt ex-work via the IME. Azarbaijan Steel (another governmental supplier) also sold rebar at $561/mt with 25-day delivery through the IME on the same date.
In addition, again on the same date via the IME, another state-owned supplier Iran National Steel Industrial Group sold a ready stock batch of rebar at $560/mt.
Iranian rebar suppliers have hiked their prices substantially in recent days following certain price increases seen in the last two weeks in the local market. Some buyers who were out of the market in the past few weeks are now returning, and this may also be seen as an indication of a certain recovery in the Iranian rebar market. Nevertheless, the heavy stagnation in the construction sector in Iran should not be ignored - and this is not expected to allow any real recovery to occur in the near future.