Iranian mills, hoping for the tight electricity supply situation to come to an end shortly, have floated a few export tenders for semi-finished products. Globally, the price situation for these products has remained relatively stable, at least for now. However, if Iranian mills resist providing discounts, they will find it tough to make sales of billet and slab particularly to their Asian buyers.
Iran’s Khouzestan Steel Company (KSC) has lately floated two export tenders. One of them is for prime steel billet, a 20,000-50,000 mt lot, for end-of-November shipment. Another tender is for a 20,000-50,000 mt steel slab lot to be shipped in-mid November. Both tenders are valid until September 19, 2024.
In addition, Iran’s Chadormalu Industrial and Mining Company has announced a sale of 30,000 mt of billet to be delivered by mid-October. This cargo in particular can be sold to GCC-based buyers taking into consideration the short lead time.
The latest export transactions for ex-Iran billet were closed at $452/mt FOB, although some of the bids were as low as $435/mt FOB. Some market players assume that the workable ex-Iran billet price should not be above $445/mt FOB, particularly given the hypothetical increase in billet supply for October production.