Over the past week, demand for ex-CIS pig iron has accelerated with the sales concluded from the CIS region to Italy, while ex-CIS pig iron offers to the international markets have increased by $5/mt on the lower end week on week to $395-410/mt FOB.
Lower pig iron inventories in Italy have attributed to the accelerated ex-CIS pig iron sales to the country, though Italian buyers had started to accept ex-CIS pig iron offers in the previous week. Due to livelier demand, CIS-based pig iron producers have increased their offers to Italy from $415/mt CFR to $425/mt CFR.
Meanwhile, it is observed that pig iron demand in the US has not improved despite the announcement of domestic scrap prices for the July buy-cycle. Additionally, market sources expect US buyers to exert downward pressure on ex-CIS pig iron prices to lower offers from the level of $415-420/mt CFR recorded during recent weeks.