An ex-CIS basic pig iron deal was disclosed to the market, with the transaction concluded again to China at the beginning of the current week.
In addition to the NLMK BPI sale to China at $354/mt CFR, published by SteelOrbis earlier, another ex-Russia lot was traded to the same destination just a day before. According to sources, Tula has sold 50,000 mt at $353/mt CFR for October shipment which is estimated at $319-320/mt FOB. The previous deal from the same supplier was done at the end of last week at $347/mt CFR China..
Due to the lively interest from Chinese buyers and limited BPI allocation in the global market with short lead times, some of CIS-based suppliers have decided to withdraw offers, seeing more opportunities to sell at higher prices later. “I heard Tula left the market, being completely booked until November. NLMK has stopped offering as of the moment. All are waiting for further price hikes, taking into account the continuous rise in steel and raw materials’ prices in China”, a trader commented. In general, during the two past weeks China booked at least 330,000 mt of ex-CIS and ex-Brazil, in particular, basic pig iron.