The Iran Steel Producers Association (ISPA), in a letter addressed to the Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade (IMT) for Commercial Affairs, demanded the suspension of the recent Iran Commodity Exchange (ICE) directive regarding the base price of the steel chain and its amendment based on the agreement reached between the specialized organizations in this sector.
Bahram Sobhani, Head of the Steel Association, used the letter to reference the historic agreement among the steel chain organizations on the product pricing coefficients—intended to be the maximum base price for supply on the ICE. He urged the Deputy Minister of IMT to intervene and operationalize his previous commitment to implement the organizations’ agreement.
The Iran Commodity Exchange (ICE), in a directive published on September 26, 2025 (Mehr 5, 1404), announced its preferred formula for pricing steel chain products. This formula sets the maximum base price for supply as a combination of the export price ceiling and the pricing coefficients from last year’s Azar (November/December).
This new formula conflicts with the consensus reached by the Iron and Steel Council (comprising the Iran Iron Ore Association, the ISPA, and the Iran Rolling Mills Association) this Mordad (July/August). The Council had, for the first time, agreed upon the pricing coefficients for steel chain products and communicated them to the Ministry of IMT and the ICE. Despite the Ministry of IMT’s promise to operationalize this agreement, the coefficients listed in the recent ICE directive are different from the organizations’ established agreement.
This directive is scheduled to take effect tomorrow, October 4, 2025 (Mehr 13).
