Two new sales have been reported from Brazil to the US lately and, though the FOB price level is similar to that in a deal reported in late November, the improvement in trading activity has been assessed as a positive sign.
Two different sellers have closed deals for 50,000-55,000 mt each at $395/mt FOB for January shipment to a major US importer, a number of market sources confirmed to SteelOrbis. This is almost in line with the price in the previous deal signed to another US buyer at $390-395/mt FOB. “Producers continue to push for $400/mt FOB, but this level has not found support in the market. They are betting the market will be better next year in the wake of CBAM, though there's a lot of uncertainty on how it will work,” a Brazil-based source said.
On CFR basis, the abovementioned deals have been assessed by different market sources at $425/mt CFR or even up to 430/mt CFR New Orleans as “freight rates have increased a lot recently,” one of the Brazilian sellers said. The previous deal signed at almost the same FOB level translated to $420-422.5/mt CFR, as reported earlier.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import BPI in the US stands at $425-430/mt CFR, increasing by $2.5/mt on average over the past week.
As for sales to alternative destinations, the workable level in Europe has been heard at $425-430/mt CFR, but importers are not interested in purchases of BPI that will arrive in February or March.