Early in January, offers for basic steelmaking pig iron from the CIS region to the US were heard at $310-315/mt FOB Black Sea.
On January 25, SteelOrbis reported that offer prices for basic steelmaking pig iron from the CIS widened by $10/mt on the low end of the range, moving offer prices to $300-320/mt FOB Black Sea. While most offer prices softened, a source noted a few offers up $5/mt at $320/mt for April shipment primarily due to market uncertainty.
According to market sources, the sharp fall of import scrap prices in Turkey, the ongoing retreat in coking coal prices, and soft finished steel product demand in target markets have resulted in an additional fall in basic pig iron prices from the CIS region to $285-300/mt FOB Black Sea. This decline represents a decline of $15/mt from the bottom of the previous range and $20/mt from the top of the previous range.
Regarding nodular and foundry pig iron, SteelOrbis reported Russian origin (low-manganese) nodular and foundry pig iron offers at $350-360/mt FOB Baltic Sea in late December. On January 25, SteelOrbis reported prices moving down $10/mt to $340-350/mt FOB Baltic Sea. Today, sources report prices on low-manganese pig iron at $330-350/mt FOB Black Sea. The updated export offers have further dropped prices at the bottom of the range by $10/mt.
“Buyers are adopting a wait-and-see attitude, waiting for further confirmation on market direction pending additional developments in scrap export deals to Turkey, plus the return of China to the steel related markets on Feb 3 after their lunar new year holiday in addition to results from the US February scrap buy-cycle presently under negotiations,” according to a source. Another source stated, “It is our understanding that Turkish mills are actively negotiating scrap deals, but the big unknown is whether ex-US prices will go down further.”