Weekly Bitumen Report: More Increasing Signals in Bitumen Price

Three American soldiers were killed in a drone attack in Jordan and the situation in the Middle East and north of Africa got more complicated. USA decision to compensate this attack raised worries about a wider regional war. As a result, brent crude oil increased up to around 83 US dollars.

Ukraine war got thornier as well and the military attacks spread more by the two parties. In the meantime, Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve of the United States, declared that economic growth of America improved within the last year. He added it is improbable if America has any plans to reduce the interest rate in March.

Although China’s government supported the projects of real estate construction, steel prices dropped 2% during last week that is a sign of economic concerns in China.

During the last week, Brent crude oil increased up to 83 USD and it fell back up to 81.88 USD on Thursday. Singapore’s 180 CST decreased 2 dollars and reached 458 USD. Bitumen price in Singapore remained at the level of 434 USD.

Bitumen price in South Korea increased 5 dollars to record the level of 390 USD.

In Bahrain and after several months of price stability, bitumen price declined 40 dollars to settle at 360 USD.

In Europe, bitumen price remained unchanged at the level of 380-420 USD.

In India and after several stagnant weeks of bitumen price fall, the prices increased around 9 USD on 1 February and hopes for a promising market in February and March increased.

Despite the start of competition for buying vacuum bottom, bitumen market in Iran became difficult, although the average competition of 10.5% was recorded among the Iranian refineries for the last 7 VB announcements in IME.

The unprecedented rise in the dollar and expectations for price reductions, along with regional crises, have made the situation in Iran hard. The uncertainty about the future exchange rate of the dollar and approaching the end of the year in Iran, as well as the increase in bitumen prices of India, Korea, Singapore, and creating a price attraction for Iranian bitumen, and on the other hand, the reduction in Bahrain’s prices, have caused further complexity.

For any orders of bitumen in different markets, keep in touch with the Infinity Galaxy team.

This article was prepared by Razieh Gilani, the export manager of Infinity Galaxy.