Asian customers have showed some interest in billet purchases from Iran despite sanctions. Recent deals for small tonnages of Iranian billet from traders have been done at $525-530/mt CFR Thailand, up $5-10/mt from the levels in mid-June. According to the market sources, these bookings have been concluded by a few stockists, while end-users are still reluctant to purchase Iranian material. “Local rebar prices are not supporting bookings from traditional suppliers like Russia or India,” a Thai re-roller told SteelOrbis.
There has also been some demand in China for Iranian billet. A direct sale from an Iranian mill has been concluded at $390-395/mt FOB, which is also at least $5/mt higher than transaction prices on FOB basis two weeks ago. Iranian mills will try to keep billet prices at high levels for the export market in the near future, as they have recently booked enough billet volumes for September shipment.