A source from a major independent pig iron producer in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais told SteelOrbis that his last sales of the nodular foundry grade product have faced a sharp decline in price, from a range of $310/mt to $320/mt one month ago, to $280/mt, FOB conditions.
The source added that such price has negatively affected the operational margin, but the main problem is the demand: “We have idled one of our two blast furnaces and our production is sold until the end of September, but so far we have only a few tons sold for export in October, due to the reduced demand, chiefly from the US,” he said.
He mentioned that In the domestic market he remains selling the product at the same BRL1,035/mt ($276/mt) of one month ago, ex-works, full taxes except IPI, but in $ terms the price actually went down by 5.5 percent over the period.
In July, the foundry grade pig iron was exported by Brazil in average at $307/mt, FOB conditions, price deals probably closed on May.
1 US$ = BRL 3.74 (September 3)