The situation in the global basic pig iron (BPI) market has not changed much this week. Trading has come to a halt after a number of deals signed last week, and buyers are not ready for any price increases, at least in the near future.
Ex-Brazil BPI with 0.15 percent phosphorus content is still priced at $430-435/mt FOB, with only June shipment available. In the last round of sales, five cargoes mainly consisting of 50,000-55,000 mt were sold in this range over the past two weeks, with three of them sold last week. Though two out of three cargoes sold last week were traded at $435/mt FOB, according to Brazilian suppliers, in general the market has been relatively stable. “The market is still near $430/mt FOB, and the next deals will be after the conference (Bi-annual IIMA Members' Meeting in Lisbon),” a source said. Since local US scrap prices have settled at stable levels in April, there will be a lack of supportive factors for the next round of pig iron sales.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia pig iron stands at $390-400/mt FOB Black Sea, changed only slightly from last week’s $385-400/mt FOB. Though offers from Russian mills have been mainly voiced at $400/mt FOB and above, most market sources said that the tradable level is hardly much above the latest sales prices. As reported earlier, over 100,000 mt of Russian BPI were traded to Europe at $415-425/mt CFR, translating to $385-395/mt FOB Black Sea. “All who needed to buy, did so, so any higher prices will not work out,” a trader said. “At the moment, the price [for Russia pig iron] is at $420/mt CFR maximum,” a European importer said.
In Turkey, there have been no new trades either, and the market has been slow for both steel and raw materials ahead of the holidays next week. Steel mills have been seeing the tradable levels at $405-410/mt CFR at the highest, translating to $385-390/mt FOB Black Sea, while a slightly higher level at $400/mt FOB is possible for foundries.