Brazilian basic pig iron exporters have finally managed to resume trading after a halt lasting over a month in exports due to the 50 tariffs threatened by the US. Pig iron is exempted from this high tariff rate and will be subject only to the 10 percent rate announced since April. So, in new deals done to the US, Brazilian suppliers have managed to get prices similar to those they had in early July.
Deals for 100,000 mt of basic pig iron with 0.15 percent phosphorus content are confirmed to have been done to a major US steel mill at $430/mt CFR for September shipment. The FOB price is said to be at $405/mt or “$401/mt FOB net to those producers that need financing,” a Brazil-based source said. “We came back to the $400-405/mt FOB we saw before all this tariff craziness,” another source said.
The tradable level for higher grade basic pig iron with 0.10 percent phosphorus content has been assessed at $450/mt CFR, but no deals have been reported for this grade by the time of publication. Market sources said that, with the higher rate for India (at 50 percent as announced by Trump in early August), and over 15 percent for most Asian sellers, Brazil and Ukraine will remain the main exporters to the US, having 10 percent.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import BPI in the US has settled $10/mt lower since last week at $430-450/mt CFR, as the previous higher level was indicative, before the settling of the new price level from Brazil.