At the end of ast week, Iran’s Khouzestan Steel Company (KSC) announced a new billet export tender for 20,000-50,000 mt to be cargo-ready for the end of February and to be shipped from BIK port. In addition, the supplier has floated a slab tender, again for 20,000-50,000 mt, with the same lead time. The deadline for bids in both tenders is January 14.
Sources believe that, although Iranian mills will most probably have to be quite flexible in their pricing given the rather challenging market situation for billet globally, large suppliers, such as ESCO and KSC are expected to target prices above $430-435/mt FOB. However, currently, some ready cargoes of small lots are available for purchase from ports at $425-430/mt FOB, while IF billet, as SteelOrbis reported, was on offer at the end of last week at $420-425/mt FOB, with $5-10/mt discounts considered possible.
Iranian market players are quite concerned by the difficult situation in the country’s energy sector and its toll on the steel sector. The imbalances in the natural gas supply, which are traditional for the winter period in Iran, are now coupled with persisting electricity supply issues which have continued since the summer period. “It is a very big problem for steel mills because of gas and electricity shortages. Some private mills have already shut down completely, while the big boys are mostly struggling,” one market player told SteelOrbis.
