Iranian flats imports down in March-January

Paragraph entered by Atlantic migration, in order for SteelFirst articles to display correctly on Metal Bulletin.

Imports of hot rolled flat products between March 20, 2012, and January 20 this year dropped by 7% to 1.66 million tonnes.

Cold rolled coil and sheet imports fell by 38% to 302,000 tonnes, while those of hot dipped galvanized coil and sheet went down by 18% to 150,000 tonnes.

Electro-galvanized coil and sheet imports were reduced by 77% to 52,000 tonnes, and tinplate by 29% to 75,000 tonnes.

In the corresponding months of the previous year, Iran imported 1.77 million tonnes of hot rolled flat products, 483,000 tonnes of cold rolled coil and sheet, 182,000 tonnes of hot dipped galvanized, 220,000 tonnes of electro-galvanized and 105,000 tonnes of tinplate.

“Imports of hot rolled coil, which is a vital item for local industries, have not fallen significantly, so we are not worried about the falling inventory of hot rolled coil,” one market participant said.

“But imports of items such as cold rolled coil and sheet, electro-galvanized and tin-plate have dropped strongly,” he added, “which may increase local market prices strongly in future.”