A major independent pig iron producer in Minas Gerais state told SteelOrbis that he is selling the foundry nodular grade product, FOB for export, in the $440/mt-$472/mt range, against $440/mt-$460/mt three weeks ago, adding that despite the small difference, the average price achieved in most recent deals closed for exports is stable at $455/mt.
But in the domestic market, the last sales were closed at BRL1,260/mt, ex-works, full taxes except IPI tax, against BRL 1,278/mt three weeks ago, a 1.4 percent reduction in BRL, but in $ terms the equivalent price was reduced by 8.3 percent, from $504/mt to $462/mt.
In less than one month, the BRL/$ ratio has seen variations of up to 10 percent, giving rise to distortions in the local steel-related markets, as most of production costs, including coal and iron ore, although established in BRL, are based on $ terms.
In November, the Brazilian exports of pig iron went down from October by 61 percent to 136,000 mt, reflecting exports of the steelmaking grades reduced by 87 percent, while exports of the foundry grades were roughly stable.