Monday, December 28, 2009

Quantity orders vs. Quality orders

one of problems bitumen buyers may experience is that in many projects you don't need more than 100-200 MT bitumen. like a small road construction or a medium road repair service, or a small refinery which produces bitumen roof seals and protection systems. While in nowadays' trade world which nobody likes to engage with many middle men and middle businesses (and indeed the communication helps you do so), for such amounts you have to go to a middle man dealer to buy a partial quantity of his load on ship. and there's a big scam here when you want to buy a small amount of bitumen, because you may encounter unqualified bitumen suppliers (while big suppliers are not interested in such deals) and small suppliers' quality sometime... sucks!

Any solution? I'll show you!
any trader and bitumen broker can provide such quantity in less than a week. in fact, there are always less than 500MT availabilities in ports while we are collecting a big order. the problem with your tiny order is not availability, it's the payment. if you are ready to pay cash on delivery or cash in advance, and if you handle the shipment yourself, there you are. all you need to do is to contact reputable dealers you know and mention you need that amount for first bid and you pay in cash and get the bitumen in the port (not FOB)

after you bought the bitumen, you should be able to contact a shipping line or a forwarder, pay the shipping cost and the THC (Terminal Handling Charge in Iran is roughly 45 USD per 20feet container) and get the Bill of Ladings yourself.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Consultancy service buying bitumen from Iran

I’ve experienced many different problems regarding payments, delivery, SGS inspections etc with international bitumen traders. To be honest it’s also hard to work with Iranian suppliers since they show minimum flexibility in negotiations and making agreements. obviously, a major part of these problems and non flexibilities are due to sanctions on Iran, economic embargoes etc. What I can provide your firms in this conditions to ease the process of buying and importing bitumen from Iran, is consultancy service including:

  • Quoting from various reliable sources
  • Negotiation and signing contract with chosen supplier
  • Banking issues:
  1. Dividing your transferable LC from world prime banks through our Bank in Dubai or Cyprus
  2. OR: receiving your LC in Iranian banks from international banks who are able to issue such LC
  • SGS and Insurance services
  • Transportation, ocean freight and Terminal Handling services
  • Drumming process supervisory

Please feel free to contact me for further information: emad @ irxp.com

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Iran Bitumen - risks again with an alert

as I mentioned in my previous post, buying bitumen from uncertified and small workshops is risky. below you see an alert posted by Mr. Aghili, Iran Bitumen Analyst and trader:

Recently, and in the past disastrous results of road projects at the hands of emerging rings of smugglers are being revealed simply by the result of Road Projects world-wide. Due to demand for very low prices there are many of these rings increasing in today’s Bitumen market and this is why the legitimate suppliers are finding it harder and harder to compete with them.

What the smugglers do is place Mazut, Gilsonite, or Crude in the bottom of the drums before bitumen is poured on top. It is said up to 20, 40 or even 50% of the said impurities are placed on the bottom of each drums before 100% pure NIOC bitumen is poured on top. What occurs then is that SGS comes in and takes samples from the top, and gives them the SGS certification. The road contractor uses it, let's say in Sudan in their Road project not knowing that within 7 to 12 months the road which they have produced at heavy costs and time constructed will begin to fall apart in patches across the entire paved road. Many which use equipment to apply the impure bitumen are complaining of clogs in their equipment’s pipes a well.

Because, the cost of Mazut is 35.00 USD per MT and Bitumen much more. They save actually 300 USD x 500 KG which is 150.00 USD per MT. Naturally the can outbid any true supplier any time they wish. Our estimates in the past had been 20% impurities which would save them 68.00 USD per MT based on the present market rates of 335.00 USD per MT in Bulk.

We are obtaining pictures of disaster jobs as we speak to reveal them to our clients and Agents world wide. Please be patient for this.

If anyone is offering Bitumen at 10.00 USD more or less than a reliable supplier, we can say it is expected, but when someone offers 30.00 USD or 50.00 USD per MT less or more then they are actually doing it below our own cost. We base this based on our profit margin after costs of drumming and all other associated costs of exporting the bitumen. Our profit margin is no more than 20.00 USD per MT inclusive of 5.00 USD per MT for unforeseen costs or we add this to the profit margin. This all depends on the market trends.

We should not have to battle the people whom we work with, but the people whom we work with, should believe in us and educate buyers of the reason prices are as such. We would like to state that the people selling at incredible rates are very questionable. The projects which the false bitumen is prepared with last no longer then 7 to 12 months maximum.

Presently our union is gathering more information on such suppliers and confronting them where possible.

Unfortunately, SGS inspection will not break open a new steel drum unless there is previous suspicion. With these companies functioning with multiple names even that will be a small deterrent.

Friday, July 10, 2009

buying bitumen from Iran

many traders trying to find contacts in Iran, experience a similar problem: different prices from different companies. what's the point?

the bitumen prices in Iran, like all other commodities: gold, silver, sugar, base oil etc, are considered in Stock exchange (Iran Mercantile Exchange market: www.ime.co.ir which we are a certified broker over there.) So the price we provide is: price at IME + drumming costs + transportation

Our profit is maximum 5-7%, so other's prices shouldn't be able to differ so much. but they do.
the reason is small workshops and bitumen producers and some cheating traders!

What’s the risk of buying from them? 1- quality 2- they cannot supply big amounts

If you don’t care about quality (see our quality tests) or you don’t want big amounts in a long term business, that’s fine, you can get lower prices.

Another warning you should be concern about is drumming plants who mix Jey refinery bitumen with self produced bitumen. you even can't trust SGS reports they provide. so make sure to know your business partner and do a visit to their drumming plant before you buy.

Friday, January 16, 2009

new prices and new availability

Prices of bitumen are down to earth these days and I don't think it would come lower. we have a new ability to sell bulk bitumen since our company has signed a contract with a bulk career transportation company. the new prices are:

Bulk Bitumen FOB Bandar Abbas: 363 USD per MTon
Bitumen in poly bags FOB Bandar Abbas: 374 USD per MTon
New steel drums FOB Bandar Abbas: 406 USD per MTon

new payment term: LC at sight from Iranian banks (Bank of Saderat has branches in UAE, India, London and many other countries)

Iranian Bitumen may be more expensive that Saudi or Russian Bitumen, but it's believed the quality has the worth to pay more. this is the reason UAE government buys most of its bitumen needs from Iran, Jey refinery.