Having been slack for a while, demand for ex-CIS pig iron in the export markets has started to recover and CIS-based pig iron suppliers’ quotations have increased over the past week. Accordingly, ex-CIS pig iron offers have increased by $15/mt on the lower end and by $5/mt on the upper end to $395-405/mt FOB. However, CIS-based pig iron producers are unwilling to conclude new deals for now since their order books are almost full, including for July production.
Meanwhile, following the deals concluded early this month at $400-405/mt CFR, new pig iron offers from the CIS to Italy and Romania have increased to $415-420/mt CFR. In the US market, demand for ex-CIS pig iron, which had been weakening lately, has accelerated as a result of the uptrend of scrap and domestic steel prices. After building up pig iron inventories with the deals they concluded in May, US-based buyers are preparing to conclude new pig iron bookings. However, CIS-based pig iron producers have made no new price offers to the US yet, since their order books are fairly full.