The downtrend of Russian basic pig iron (BPI) prices has continued this week mainly due to the sudden drop in the Turkish scrap market and soft billet prices. Even though overall allocation for merchant pig iron from Russia is not high and sales have been almost halted, prices has not remained firm.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia BPI has lost $5/mt over the past week, coming to $330-340/mt FOB Black Sea.
The tradable level for relatively large volumes of ex-Russia BPI to Turkey has been at $345-350/mt CFR, according to market sources, down from the previous trades at $355-360/mt CFR reported earlier. This translates to $325-330/mt on FOB Black Sea basis. “I believe that, after the $340/mt FOB deal, nothing has happened, but now it would be good if a seller achieved $330-335/mt FOB,” a trade source said.
One of the main Russian pig iron suppliers Tulachermet has halted one blast furnace, as reported a week ago. Also, another mill in Russia claimed it has no free allocation for export, considering current prices.
Though the tradable level for import BPI in India has remained rather stable from last week - at $340-350/mt CFR - this is still too low for the majority of sellers as it is equivalent to $310/mt FOB Black Sea and lower.
Europe’s import BPI market has also been silent this week with a negative mood emerging. Import activity has been cut to a minimum amid very high stocks at both steel mills and foundries. The highest tradable level has been assessed at $470/mt CFR, but most buyers’ ideas for future contracts are closer to $450/mt CFR. This is down from the previous small-volume deals for ex-Ukraine BPI at around $480/mt CFR.