In the current week CIS suppliers have significantly reduced their billet offers for the Iranian market in the hope of attracting more customers. At present CIS suppliers are offering 100 x 100 mm up to 150 x 150 mm billet sizes in a price range of $460-465/mt CFR Iranian northern ports for production in November and delivery in December, representing a reduction of about $20/mt compared to previous weeks.
Having hiked their billet offers in early September to a range of $470-480/mt CFR Iranian northern ports, CIS suppliers are now no longer able to maintain such prices, with weak demand in the Iranian market along with global developments finally forcing them to reduce their offer levels.
Iran has the largest market for billet among Persian Gulf countries and so CIS countries cannot continue to ignore circumstances in the Iranian domestic market. Local Iranian purchasers of billet, mainly rolling mills and traders, usually purchase the major part of their requirements from CIS countries, especially Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. As a result, ex-CIS billet offers generally play a key role in determining billet prices in the local Iranian market.
Meanwhile, according to the new figures published by the Iranian customs authorities, Iran imported about two million mt of semis (mainly billet) in the first five months of the current Iranian year (started March 21), creating an expectation for semis imports of about five million mt for the whole of the current Iranian year. Iran imported about four million mt of semis in the last Iranian year according to the same source.