Steel buyers & sellers in Korea & Japan: Iran’s export ban reshapes supply. Navigate AD duties, freight spikes, and holiday disruptions. Download Report.

This week’s Northeast Asia Steel Weekly Report arrives at a pivotal moment for steel supply chains. Iran’s official suspension of slab and HRC exports until late May — with 10 million tonnes of annual capacity offline — is sending a shockwave through global semi-finished markets just as China and Japan enter their most significant holiday period of the year. For procurement managers, this means a sudden tightening of billet and slab availability. For sales managers, it opens an urgent window to capture market share in regions suddenly deprived of Iranian supply. This report provides the precise, cross-referenced intelligence you need to act before markets reopen.

The report covers the full week of April 22–29, 2026, with explicit week-on-week comparisons against April 15–22, 2026, so you can see not just where prices are, but where they are moving — and why.

For Procurement Managers, This Report Helps You Solve:

How to secure billet and HRC shipments before the post-holiday restocking rush escalates prices, now that Iran’s export ban has removed a key alternative supply source from the global market.
Whether to route Korea-bound cargoes through congested Busan or shift to Gwangyang Port, where domestic logistics savings alone could reach billions of won annually.
How to evaluate landed costs under Korea’s price undertaking mechanism versus the full 33.10% anti-dumping duty, and which approved Chinese and Japanese exporters offer duty-free access as temporary protections approach their June 22 expiry.

For Sales Managers, This Report Helps You Solve:

Where to direct billet and HRC offers immediately, as Iran’s traditional MENA and Southeast Asian buyers scramble to replace 2–2.5 million tonnes per year of lost semi-finished supply.
How to time price quotes around the overlapping China Labor Day and Japan Golden Week holidays, avoiding the quiet period and positioning for the restocking impulse when markets reopen on May 6.
Whether to apply for price undertaking status now to enter the Korean HRC market duty-free before the June 22 deadline, joining the 9 exporters who already control 81% of Korea’s HRC import volume.

The core value of this report:
Iran’s suspension of slab and HRC exports until May 30, with 10 million tonnes of capacity offline, creates a 2–2.5 million tpy semi-finished steel supply gap — a structural opportunity for suppliers who move now and a procurement risk for buyers who delay.

This report includes a full week-on-week comparison of prices, policies, exchange rates, logistics, and sentiment, so you can see exactly how the market shifted from April 15–22 to April 22–29 — not just headlines, but the data behind the decisions.

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