Iranian billet export offers continue to pose a steep upward trend

It was a second consecutive week when billet export offers from the country saw a sharp hike, owing to continuously rising global scrap prices and Chinese rebar futures. The offers have touched $500/t, FoB levels. However, we did not witness any deals at increased offers. But during a conversation with the country’s leading steel exporting mill, we learned that Iranian billets are in demand, and in the coming weeks, sizeable trades are likely to be witnessed. And hence, the mills are anticipating the price levels of atleast $490/t, FoB.

The reasonable billet offerings from Iran are likely to propel the exports from the country. The Iranian billets offered are between $490-500/t, FoB. While the FoB offerings from the other major, billet exporting nations like India and Russia and hovering at $530/t and $550/t, respectively. Also, the pre-Christmas buying is likely to encourage Iranian billet exports.

SteelMint’s bi-weekly assessment for billet export offers from Iran is $485-500/t, FoB Iran, up by $15-20 against last week.

Steel exports of major Iranian mills down 20% y-o-y – Meanwhile, Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development and Renovation (IMIDRO) released the export figures of the primary Iranian mills. The data shows a 20% y-o-y decrease in the exports of semi-finished and finished steel products and reached a 3.8 mn t mark during the first eight months of the current Iranian year (20 Mar- 20 Nov ’20). KSC remained the largest exporter at 0.95 mn t. Amid a surge in domestic demand and price controlling policies employed by the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade, monthly figures also indicated a 12% fall in exports y-o-y

Domestic billet prices inch up at IME, demand gets sluggish again: This week, the domestic billet prices at the Iranian Mercantile Exchange (IME) inched up. However, unlike last week, the demand reported having sluggish. Approximately 90,000 t billets traded at an average price of IRR 97,868/kg ($383/t), up by IRR 777/kg ($3/t). Around 140,000 t billets reported having offered, while the base price for the trade event was IRR 96,856/kg.