Iran’s billets exports are expected to regain momentum as mills return to the market after a month-long Nowruz (Persian New Year) holidays. Iran’s billets export prices moved up this week and mills are eyeing for a further hike in the upcoming tenders. SteelMint’s latest assessment of Iran’s billet (3SP) export prices stood at $720/t FOB on 7 April 2022, up $10/tonne (t), w-o-w.
A couple of billets export deals were heard to have been concluded in the last couple of days. However, confirmation could not be received till the time of publishing this report. A deal for 30,000 t of 150mm EAF-route billets were heard to have been concluded at $680/t FOB Iran levels. In another deal, an Iranian mill sold billets at $688/t, FOB Iran levels for May shipments.
As per market sources, South-East Asia especially Thailand has become the most-preferred market for Iranian billets exports at present due to better realisations. Earlier Chinese were the major buyers of Iranian billets but owing to low demand due to Covid concerns, traders shifted to SE Asia.
Active tenders:
- Khouzestan Steel Company (KSC) has floated an export tender for 50,000 t of billets, the shipment for which is scheduled for end-May’22.
- Another tender by ESCO was opened this week for 30,000 t of BF-route billets with due date being the end of this week.
Domestic billets trade on IME down sharply
Domestic billets sales on the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) decreased by 50%. However, the average price was up around 4% w-o-w.
Around 66,120 t of billets were traded on IME in the week under review at an average sales price of 152,105 Rial. Last week, about 131,700 t of billets were traded on IME at an average sales price of 146,007 Rial.
Outlook: A few Iranian billets tenders are lined up and some more are expected to be floated next week. Overall, the market is looking positive for Iranian billets specially for South-East Asia.
Leave a Reply