Weekly Bitumen Report: Transportation Issues, the Main Concern of Current Market

Within last week, the rally of competitions continued among the refineries. The minimum and maximum percentages of the competitions were 14.64% in Tabriz and 43.57% in Bandar Abbas.

On 16th November, the Indian refineries increased bitumen price by 57 US dollars per ton. Demands also seem to be recovering as many pending projects need to be completed before January.

The unclear situation of the shipping lines in providing regular vessels to the main ports of Mundra, Nhava Sheva, and Kandla is troubling both exporters and importers. The current congestion of the stuffed containers in Bandar Abbas is negatively affecting the trend of the market. Although there are containers available with the shipping lines, there is no interest to load boxes to India, mainly due to the vague conditions of the Adani terminal. The cash flow of the buyers has been stuck with their old orders and the exporters are bearing extra charges considering the recent surge of bitumen prices. Businesses of both importers and exporters are under the severe influence of the shipping lines.

Oil price is moving around the channel of 79-85 US dollars per barrel but based on the predictions, the increase of rates is probable.

It seems that bitumen prices will remain stable at the current level, although the competitions are regularly happening.

The news about America’s suggestion for an initial agreement with Iran on nuclear programs have been received that can lead to the fall of US dollar value against Rial.

This article was prepared by Razieh Gilani, the sales manager of Infinity Galaxy (www.infinitygalaxy.org).