Brazilian basic pig iron (BPI) exporters have kept insisting on higher prices and a few deals are rumoured to have been signed at higher levels, but in general the major buyers have not been eager to accept further rises.
The last deal for ex-Brazil BPI with 0.15 percent of phosphorus content was heard to have been done to the US market at $420/mt FOB, up by $5/mt from the contract reported in mid-January. Another contract has been rumored at $425/mt FOB, but this has been heard from one exporting sources, and most other sources polled by SteelOrbis have not confirmed the sale. “I would say that people are talking about it, and the market should be at this level, but I doubt it has already been done,” one of the Brazilian exporters said.
The targets of a number of Brazilian mills for sales in February are at $430-435/mt FOB amid “strong demand in the US, and the winter is not allowing scrap to move”, a Brazilian source said. But this higher level is heard to be workable only for limited cargoes.
For instance, there has been information that 5,000 mt of Brazilian basic pig iron, which will be shipped on a big vessel with other materials, has been sold to Italy at $430/mt FOB. Though there is still great uncertainty regarding CBAM, Brazilian suppliers may be able to achieve higher levels, even for small volumes, as their default CBAM values are the lowest.
In Europe, most offers for import BPI (both ex-Brazil and ex-Ukraine) are not below $455-460/mt CFR, and the reference price has been settled at $450-455/mt CFR, moving up by $5-10/mt from mid-January. There is still a lack of Ukrainian offers to the US with no big volumes available for shipment before mid-March.
