Prices for import basic pig iron and HBI have increased in Europe in January amid rather limited supply, the bullish mood of some sellers who have low CBAM costs and the overall improved sentiments in the steel market.
Most offers for Brazilian basic pig iron have been at $450/mt CFR and above in Europe, while ex-Ukraine material has been quoted at $440-445/mt CFR. In late December, import BPI prices were at $425-435/mt CFR, meaning that prices have added $15/mt over the month. The rise in offers from Brazil is due mainly due to low CBAM costs, which are near €35/mt at the highest, while Ukraine’s default CBAM costs are assessed at near €80/mt by most market sources. “Most of the last sales from Brazil were to the US, but Europe may become more active with purchases for Q2,” a trading source said. At the moment, the leading steel mills are not in the market for pig iron, having enough stocks.
As for HBI, offers of the material from Libya have been reported at $370/mt CFR to both Italy and Turkey, up by $15-20/mt over the past month. “Libyan HBI it is not cheap, as buyers don’t have many options,” a European source said. One vessel of HBI from Venezuela, which is already on the water, has been offered at $350-355/mt CFR, but buyers want to push for $340-345/mt CFR. Turkish customers have also said that offers for Russian HBI were below $330/mt CFR, but “today they may be lower after the issue affecting this vessel,” a Turkish source said. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, news about the detention of a vessel with 33,000 mt of HBI at an Italian port (preliminarily alleged to be Russian and breaking the sanctions of the European Union) has been circulating in the market since early January.
