Iranian mills eye higher prices in upcoming billet export tenders

Iranian mills booked decent volumes as we approach the end of the Chinese New-Year holidays (CNY). The bookings were done for a SE Asian destination and Turkey. With these deals, billet export offers have now gone up and touched $530-535/t, FoB Iran level. The continuously rising global scrap prices, supported by up-trending Chinese rebar futures, pulled-up the billet export offers from Iran. However, an upward tone was pre-set for the post-CNY market.

KSC booked 30,000 t billets through a tender: Khouzestan Steel Company (KSC), Iran’s leading steel exporter has concluded an export tender for 30,000 t billets (150*150mm) for Mar ’21 shipment towards the closing of last week. The tender was concluded at around $515-520/t FoB Iran and the cargo is likely to be shipped to SE Asia nations, SteelMint learned from credible sources. The company is likely to float another export tender for 30,000 t billets by 20 Feb ’21, with a price expectation of $525-530/t, FoB.

In another export deal for Turkey, the price touched $530/t, FoB Iran levels. The deal was done for 10,000 t billets. However, we could not confirm other details, until the publishing time of this report.

SteelMint’s bi-weekly assessment for Iranian billets is currently at $520-525/t, FoB, up by $10-15 w-o-w.

Domestic billet demand remains strong: In a recent trade event hosted at the Iranian Mercantile Exchange (IME), billet prices went up by IRR 3,651/kg. However, the volume traded for this week saw a drop of around 18,000 t. According to SteelMint sources, approximately 93,000 t billets were traded at an average price of IRR 105,292/kg ($403/t).

Steel exports of major Iranian mills fall – Meanwhile, the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) released the steel export volumes of the major Iranian steel producers. According to the data- the major steel producers exported around 5.42 mn t of steel during the first ten months of the current Iranian year, to register a y-o-y decline of 13%. With 1.25 mnt of exports, Khouzestan Steel Company (KSC) continues to remain the largest steel exporter during the period under consideration, down by 19% y-o-y.