Weekly Bitumen Report: Market Rising Approach Amid Unstable Rates

During the last week, the dollar value rose against Rial. Professional economic analysts predict a range of 210,000 to 230,000 Rial for a dollar. As a result of this hike, the buyers were looking for lower offers in the market. The Iranian refineries competed on the base price of VB up to 12% in Tehran. Accordingly, another rate surge of about 15$ is expected on VB in the second half of the Iranian month. Monsoon is still the dominant phenomenon in India, and Indian refineries decreased prices by about 13$ WEF on 1st July 2021. However, considerable demands are coming from the country following a slump in new COVID-19 cases and less strict lockdowns. The crude oil market touched its pre-pandemic levels in the last week of June and soared to a two-year high. Brent closed the week at $75.11 and WTI soared to $73.97. Giants of the oil market did not declare any specific support for the crude; therefore, the oil was nearly stable. On the other hand, as shipping lines have faced huge losses in the first six months of 2021, they are going to apply GRI in different steps until September. Consequently, an increase of about 17-18$ /MT is probable in Freight rates. Based on the latest report of the World Trade Organization, the volume of import/export is going back to its pre-pandemic levels but the speed varies among the countries. China has been the sole winner of this recovery up to now. WTO expects growth of trade volume in the second semester of 2021. Till the end of June 2021, about 270 million people were vaccinated in India. Almost 19% of the total population received the first shot, and about 4.5% were fully vaccinated. Even though rates dropped in India and oil price surged during the week, the bitumen price is more likely to increase in the market.