Prices in the Iranian export semi-finished steel market decreased somewhat in the week ended Wednesday August 1 because buying activity in the major outlets was limited by the imminent renewal of US trading sanctions against the Middle Eastern country.
At the same time, volumes of billet and slab available for export were limited by the Iranian government's request that more steel products be allocated to domestic customers, where demand has increased significantly in recent weeks."The country's steel industry has been instructed to allocate at least 50% of its output to the domestic market through the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME), and with a base price of an average of three international market indices," the vice president of the Iranian Steel Producers Association, Hamidreza Taherizadeh, told...