Ex-Russia basic pig iron (BPI) trading has been almost fully halted due to the summer lull in Europe, low bids and Turkish buyers focusing on semis imports. As a result, though some offers have remained stable, the reference price has slipped under pressure from buyers’ price ideas.
One of the major Russian mills has keep its offers at not below $420/mt FOB, versus $420-425/mt FOB Black Sea last week. But this week, a few traders have said that this is just “the wish of a seller, not connected to the market.” The tradable level has been assessed by a few sources at closer to $400-405/mt FOB Black Sea.
In Europe, the main sales destination for Russian sellers, the market has been seasonally silent. The indicative offers are at $435-445/mt CFR, almost in line with the deals reported a week ago, but large customers have been asking for $425/mt CFR at best, translating to $395-400/mt FOB. “Although I hear buyers claiming lower prices, I don’t hear any sales of decent quantities that may be representative of the market movement,” a trader said.
In Turkey, offers have been at $430/mt CFR for a long time, which is equivalent to $405/mt FOB Black Sea. “Mills have either switched to buying semis or are saving their pig iron stocks for later. Demand is so weak. And also foundries here are not doing good at all,” a Turkish-based source said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia BPI has been corrected down by $10/mt on the upper end to $400-410/mt FOB Black Sea.