The stability in the ex-Brazil basic pig iron (BPI) market has continued over the past week and latest deals have been signaling that demand is also at stable levels from the US, which resulted in almost completed sales for August shipment order books.
A deal for a sizable lot of ex-Brazil BPI with 0.15 percent of phosphorus content has been done at $440/mt FOB from the mill directly for August shipment to the US. “Almost all bookings take place directly between the U.S. customers and the pig iron producers nowadays... This price is net to producer, which would mean that another $5/mt should be accounted for as a financing fee, in which case the actual FOB price would be $445 FOB,” a Brazil-based source said.
One of the producers claimed that the last two deals for August shipment for the same quality were done at $441/mt FOB and $443/mt FOB over the past ten days. “Demand is good, and maybe Brazilian suppliers will not wait for September shipment sales,” another local market source said. The reference price for ex-Brazil BPI with 0.15 percent of phosphorus content has remained stable over the week at $440-445/mt FOB. Prices are fluctuating in the narrow range of $440-450/mt FOB since early May.
At the same time, there have been limited number of alternative origin offers of BPI to the US market, so the reference price remained at $465-480/mt CFR for both high and low-phosphorus materials. Ukrainian mills have sold out for August. Latest ex-Brazil sales have been all confirmed at $470-473/mt CFR.