Initially, the recent rumors of an imminent increase in import duty for some long and flat steel products helped boost the prices of rebar and of other finished products; however, the rebar prices are still on their rising trend even though the rumors in question have now subsided.
On Monday, June 1, a batch of ready stock Chinese origin 10-32 mm rebar was sold at about $500/mt ex-stock Tehran via the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME), whereas the same material was sold at $20-30/mt lower just two weeks ago. Meanwhile, on May 31 at the IME, two other batches of Chinese rebar (produced by China Shougang) was also sold at about $500/mt ex-stock Tehran.
Also on May 31 at the IME, two batches of ready stock Turkish origin rebar was sold at $494/mt ex-stock Iranian southern ports. On the same date at the IME, a few batches of ready stock Iranian rebar produced by Esfahan Steel were sold at about $551/mt ex-works.
While both local production and imported rebar have been influenced by the rising price trend, there is a risk that prices may come down again if no new import tariffs are announced by the government in the near future.
Rebar imports into Iran declined in the last Iranian year (21.03.2008-20.03.2009) due to general market stagnation and poor demand in the local market. According to the Iranian customs authorities, Iran imported about 893,222 mt of rebar (excluding plain round bar) in the last Iranian year, down from about 1,288,015 mt in the previous year.