Iranian billet sellers find support in GCC market

Iranian steel billet producers have returned to the market after the Nowruz break for the country's new year celebrations, and they had new offer prices despite a state of semi-lockdown in the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The country's major billet producer, Khouzestan, issued a tender for 30,000 tonnes of billet scheduled for delivery in May, and claimed to have sold it at $350 per tonne fob Southern Iranian ports.
Market participants considered that price to be too high for most destinations, except those among the countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), and a source on the producers' side confirmed that the cargo was sold to the GCC region.
"The freight rate from Iran to the GCC is much cheaper than from the CIS or Turkey, and the voyage takes only one day, hence the cfr price from Iran is more attractive," one market source said.

The cost of freight from Iran to the GCC region was around $15 per tonne, sources told Fastmarkets. Consequently,...

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