By Vlada Novokreshchenova – Wednesday 29 December
The recovery of demand for import billet in Asia, which follows the revival of China’s interest in import material in recent weeks, has helped Iranian billet producers to achieve higher prices in the most recent round of tenders.
Two Iranian billet producers – Kish South Kaveh and Arfa Iron & Steel – were heard to sell a total of 60,000 tonnes of the material at $543 per tonne fob southern ports of Iran.
Meanwhile, another Iranian billet producer – Esfahan Steel – was said to have sold its cargo in the range of $545-550 per tonne fob.
This moved Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel billet, export, fob ports Iran to $543-550 per tonne on Wednesday December 29, from $535-547 per tonne fob on December 22.
The uptick in prices was primarily attributed to the revival of Asian demand.
A 20,000-tonne cargo of Iranian billet scheduled for shipment in end January-early-February was sold to Thailand at $610 per tonne cfr, sources said. The estimated cost of freight to the Asian region from the south of Iran is $50-55 per tonne.
The sale to Thailand followed two deals to China, which were concluded last week at $600-610 per tonne cfr.
