Weekly Bitumen Report: The Middle East Security Concerns and Price Growth

During the last week, most of the global commodity markets experienced rise in the prices and one of its reasons was the expectation on the reduction of interest rate in America within the next weeks. The latest published report about employment rate in America demonstrates an acceptable position of employment in the country.

Brent crude oil remained stable in the range of 90 dollars after the fire in Mexico oil platform, Ukraine attacks to some of the oil refineries of Russia, and production stop in some refineries, along with the security concerns from Iran's response to Israel's attack on the consulate of this country.

The security concerns about Iran’s direct attack to Israel were so tense in a way that on April 10, some of the airlines like Lufthansa canceled their flights from/to Iran.

Morgan Stanley Bank changed its prediction on crude oil prices for the third trimester of 2024 and increased it up to 4 dollars per barrel as a result of decreased hope for the outcome of peace negotiations between Israel and Hamas and the agreement between OPEC and OPEC+ countries to continue the previous program without any changes to the production reduction plan.

On April 8, this American bank announced that the current rise happened due to the surge in geopolitical risks in the key oil-producing regions of the world, and it is a clear and non-negotiable issue.

During the past week, Singapore’s 180 CST experienced significant rises and reached 506 USD. On Tuesday, bitumen price in Singapore and South Korea settled at 410 and 400 USD, respectively.

Like the previous weeks, bitumen price in Bahrain remained stable at 380 USD.

There were some increases in the European region to record the prices of 470-510 during the week.

Although approaching the election and shortage of financial resources, India is expecting a rise of 6-7 dollars in bitumen prices on April, 15. This indicates market strengthening, although there are many challenges for Indian importers.

In spite of approaching Eid holiday in Iran, UAE, and other Islamic countries, bitumen price in Iran increased. However, an average competition of around 8% was recorded by the refineries to purchase vacuum bottom.

Despite increasing concerns about direct confrontation between Iran and Israel and significant fluctuations in exchange rates, it seems that the market's approach to competition and price increases is more serious than before.

Overall, it appears that the rally of price will still go on considering the rise in most of the commodities and oil prices, as well as the high level of the risks in the Middle East. 

You can stay in touch with Infinity Galaxy team to experience a safe deal while the market's signals are not stable.

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