Demand for ex-Russia basic pig iron (BPI) has been slow in early August as European customers have been cautious in purchases ahead of their summer holidays, while Turkish steel mills have been totally absent, switching to cheap import billets instead and having pushed down import scrap prices in recent deals.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia BPI has remained stable at $390-400/mt FOB Black Sea after a few weeks of declines.
The reference price for import BPI in Europe has been at $420-440/mt CFR this week. One deal from a Russian mill has been rumored at $440/mt CFR Italy. But the supposed buyer has denied this, saying that there have been no new deals after a contract at $430/mt CFR done last week for 30,000-35,000 mt of Russian material from another mill. A few market sources have also said that this [$440/mt CFR or nearly $410/mt FOB] would be a good price for the seller in the current conditions. “I know that there are huge volumes of [Russian major mill’s] pig iron in Novorossiysk port. So, if the seller needs to sell, the price should be in line with market [which is not above $430/mt CFR],” a source in Europe said.
Bids for large volumes of Russian pig iron in Europe have been as low as $420-425/mt CFR, translating to $390-395/mt FOB Black Sea.
Also, the Turkish market has been on hold. “Turkey has reduced its steel production rate. And here prices [for pig iron] are not workable unfortunately. From my point of view, the pig iron prices should be at $400 delivered,” a Turkish source said.