Iran: Billet export prices fall further in recent deals after Eid holidays

Iranian billet export prices witnessed a significant drop in recently-concluded deals. Declining global scrap prices, low bids from key importing nations, limited trade and cheaper billet offers from Russia continued to drag down billet export prices, SteelMint notes.

Recent deals, tender line-up

An Iranian mill concluded an export deal for 30,000 tonnes (t) of steel billets towards the end of last week. The deal was heard concluded at around $510/t FOB and the shipment is scheduled for mid-August.

Another export tender for 30,000 t of steel billets was concluded recently at around $461/t FOB. Iran's billet export prices have fallen by around $60/t as against the last concluded tenders the previous week. The price difference between the two deals was due to different destinations for GCC and SE Asia.

Meanwhile, Khouzestan Steel Company (KSC) has floated 40,000 t each of steel billet and slab export tenders. The shipments are likely to be scheduled for September.

Domestic billet trade on IME up w-o-w

Domestic billet sales on the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) rose by 21% w-o-w. Meanwhile, the average sales price decreased marginally by 3% w-o-w.

Around 116,600 t of billets were traded on IME in the week under review at an average sales price of 135,475 Rial. Last week, about 96,300 t of billets were traded at an average sales price of 139,661 Rial.

Outlook

Amid power supply restrictions, Iran's steel production is likely to remain restricted in the near term, affecting billet export allocations by steel mills. However, after the Iranian government announced ease in restrictions, mills were seen offering billets for exports quite actively.