The Pakistani importers have resumed importing Iranian steel products after a month's break due to the skyrocketing international prices of this commodity and less transit time from the neighbouring country, trade sources told Business Recorder on Tuesday.
Despite the fact that the steel import has resumed, nevertheless, the trade volume is still very low due to the geo-political conditions of the South Asian region.
"A week earlier, we had placed a number of orders to Iran of a meager quantity because the international price trend was then upward, and we had the benefit of less transit time from Iran," said an importer.
He said the import quantity of this commodity is still low as some 5,000 metric tonnes would be imported every month from now, compared to 12,000 metric tonnes that used to import every month, prior to the break.
Importers said the commodity's price (hot-roll coils) in the Iranian market is being tagged at the rate of $425-$430 per ton, and a vessel containing 7,000 tonnes of hot-roll coils anchored the Karachi Port last week.
"This (arrived commodity) was previously booked at the rate of $365 per ton, nevertheless, I could not tell you that how much quantity is in the pipeline," the importer added.
Gurus of this trade are of the view that majority of the importers are still sidelined as they fear that the geo-political uncertainty does not allow them to continue importing Iranian steel products.
"Both United States and Iran have locked horns against each other and bitterness of relations could be gauged from their statements," said a Karachi-based importer, adding that amid these risks and fears, they could not initiate formal trade with Iran.
He said that the prices of Iranian steel products are almost the same as the other countries, nevertheless, we could be benefited only from the point of view of transit time.
The importers had earlier stopped buying Iranian steel products as Iran had refused to reduce the prices despite declining trend in the international market.
They were of the view that the prices of Iranian steel products were not affordable to them as the prices in the international market had been reduced by $30 per ton and were tagged at $370 per ton, however, Iran was charging $400 per ton.
"Despite the fact that we have started importing their (Iran) products, nevertheless, the trading volume is very thin," another importer said, adding that the international price scenario is not clear these days and they (importers) are closely monitoring the situation.
"If we find that the international prices are still on the higher side and Iran is offering us steel at comparatively lower rates, we would definitely increase the number of orders," he added.
Earlier, after December 15, 2005, the local importers of steel stopped placing order with Iran and had immediately placed orders with Ukraine at the rate of $360-$370 per ton, and a ship carrying 27,000 tons of hot-rolled coils, cold-rolled coils and galvanised coils and sheets had anchored at tye Karachi Port on January 10, 2006.
"We are still interested in trade with Iran because its transit time is comparatively less than that of the European countries," said an importer, adding that the steel trade would gain momentum, if Iran would offer justified prices after clearance of international price scenario.
The trade with Iran had started in January 2005, when Pakistani importers approached Iranian exporters and placed orders of hot-rolled coils.
"Before Iran, we used to import these products from European countries, Canada, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and South Africa," said a leading importer, adding that now other players, including China, Spain, France, Argentina, Brazil, Romania and Indonesia have entered this market as potential competitors.
"Japan was the potential buyers of Iranian hot-rolled coils till December 2004," he said, and added that prior to the start of this trade, Iran used to supply its major stocks to Japan.
Comments
Comments are closed.