For the week ended January 6, offers into the US from the CIS were heard at $310-315/mt FOB Black Sea and from Brazil at $310-320/mt FOB Brazilian port.
Pending further market direction, offers from the CIS and Brazil continue to be heard in the same ranges. According to a source close to SteelOrbis, “Nothing has changed this week as more market feedback on the direction of raw materials is pending since pig iron imports take time and deals now would be for February and March deliveries. The Chinese have lowered export and domestic prices on finished steel by $10-15/mt, US scrap seems to have hit a high, iron ore rotating around $80/mt, coking coal soft, and US demand for pig weak, so not in a hurry to place orders this week.” No recent deals have been heard finalized by US entities in the past week. The last deals at year-end were reported at $320/mt CIF New Orleans which are equivalent to $300-310/mt FOB Black Sea and $305-310/mt FOB Brazilian port.
Brazil pig iron export volumes declined 20.72 percent in 2016 compared to 2015, mainly due to reduced demand from the US, according to the foreign trade ministry (MDIC). Brazil shipped 2.18 million mt of pig iron in 2016 and 2.75 million mt in 2015. Brazilian pig iron exports rose 9.6 percent year-on-year in November with shipments of 176,912 mt compared to 161,393 a year earlier with the Netherlands being the largest consumer of Brazilian pig iron in November– not the US.
For 2016, Russia's worldwide pig iron exports for 2016 are broadly estimated (official data pending) at approximately 4.5 million mt and Ukraine's pig iron exports at approximately 2.3 million mt.
From January-November 2016, the top three sources of US imports of pig iron were Russia (55 percent), Ukraine (20 percent), and Brazil (18 percent). The port of New Orleans processed 60 percent of total volume imported.