Stagnant construction weighs down Iran’s merchant bar market

The general stagnation which characterizes construction in Iran, both on the governmental and private sector sides, has been preventing a recovery of the local Iranian market for construction steel, and especially for merchant bar, even though global prices of billet and other semi-finished steels have been soaring steadily in the last few weeks. Furthermore, local demand for construction steel has also been negatively affected by the start of Ramadan.  
 
In the local Iranian market 140-180 mm I-beam sizes are currently standing in a price range of $716-745/mt ex-stock Tehran, compared to $735-750/mt about 10 days ago. In the last few weeks I-beam prices in Iran have been characterized by frequent fluctuations within a narrow margin, with the overall tendency being a downward one.
 
On August 23, local producer Esfahan Steel sold a few batches of 200-270 mm I-beam via the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) at about $787/mt ex-works with one-month delivery. On the same date Esfahan Steel sold 220 mm and 240 mm I-beam sizes through the IME at $764/mt with two-month delivery. Also on August 23 at the IME, a batch of ready stock Chinese 140-180 mm I-beam was sold at $560/mt ex-stock Iranian southern port.
 
Russian origin 80-140 mm U-beam sizes are currently in a price range of $650-665/mt ex-stock Tehran, indicating a small reduction of $10-15/mt compared with last week. Chinese origin 80-140 mm U-beam sizes are standing at about $640-650/mt ex-stock Tehran, also down just a small margin compared with last week. A few local rolling mills produce U-beam in Iran at present. 100-120 mm U-beam sizes originating from these local producers are at present standing at levels of about $640-650/mt ex-stock Tehran.
 
The latest transactions for Iranian origin 30 x 30 mm - 120 x 120 mm angles have been completed at $590-680/mt ex-stock Tehran, down from about $610-730/mt the week before.