Given concerns over supply shortages among global billet customers, Iranian producers have continued to succeed in selling at higher prices. This time, an Iranian mill has closed a tender for 30,000 mt of steel billet at $680.1/mt FOB, for shipment at the end of April, which is $5-10/mt higher compared to the recent transactions done at the beginning of the current week. Although the destination has not been confirmed by the time of publication, market insiders assume that the material is destined to be shipped to Oman. Earlier, ex-Iran billet in the GCC region was traded at $670-690/mt CFR, as SteelOrbis reported previously.
Overall, the current ex-Iran billet prices may be workable for customers in Asia as well. While, most offers for non-Iran billet in Southeast Asia have been voiced at $770-800/mt CFR, while ex-Iran billet was said to be available at $760/mt CFR for April shipment to Thailand from traders, including a price rise by around $70/mt already over the past week.