Traders selling Iran-origin steel billet were looking for new opportunities with the markets continuing to weaken in Asia, including China, which until earlier this year was the major outlet for Iranian semi-finished steel.
Egypt
removed its 10% safeguard duty on billet earlier this week and has begun to offer good opportunities for companies trading Iranian semis.
Around 50,000 tonnes of billet were reported sold to the North African country earlier this week at $655 per tonne cfr, Fastmarkets learned from several sources.
The cost of freight from the Persian Gulf to Egypt was said to be around $70 per tonne, so the fob-basis price of the deal was equivalent to around $685 per tonne fob southern ports of Iran. The material was said to be sold by a trader, so shipment was expected to be prompt.
The freight cost to Egypt was currently $5 per tonne higher than the recent freight cost from the Persian Gulf to Asia.
"There were big volumes of material going from Iran to Asia so bigger vessels were used," one trading source said in explanation.
"The cost...