Prices for ex-Black Sea basic pig iron (BPI) have remained stable this week with a lack of activity seen in the market and lower demand in the Far East, which had been showing some improvement just last week. At the same time, supply has also been drying up with a number of producers withdrawing offers, having high levels of unloaded stocks or waiting for the market to improve by the end of the month.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Black Sea BPI has remained at $320-350/mt FOB, where the lower end reflects the tradable level from Black Sea to Turkey or the Far East, while the higher end represents the lowest possible level to Europe.
The major import BPI markets for ex-Black Sea suppliers - Turkey and Europe - have become even more inactive this week. Ex-Russia offers to Italy are still at $380-385/mt CFR and the last tradable level was $370/mt CFR. “Italy remains completely silent due to the seasonal summer lull and the sluggish outlook on top of that. The Turkish market is coping with multiple issues and liquidity is being drained more and more, while there`s zero demand recovery on the horizon,” a European trader said.
In Turkey, even though scrap prices have been relatively stable, finished and semi-finished steel prices have kept going down, reflecting the weak market conditions. No firm offers have been reported for ex-Black Sea BPI to Turkey this week, with the market sources just assessing the real market levels at $340-345/mt CFR. “No one wants to sell pig iron at such prices. I heard that at the port of Novorossiysk there are 150,000 mt of pig iron,” a trader said. “We are hearing there is no any availability [for Donbass], so no price in Turkey,” a Turkish source said.
In the Far East, the situation has not been much better. Rare offers for ex-Russia BPI to Taiwan have been reported at $370/mt CFR, translating to $345-350/mt FOB Far Eastern ports of Russia. The price has slipped from the previous sales done two weeks back at slightly above $380/mt CFR. China has fully retreated from negotiations, which were held at $380-385/mt CFR last week. “Nothing is going on this week, I’m afraid. A few steel bookings here and there but quiet, even by August standards,” an international trader said.