Prices for ex-Russia BPI have settled at lower levels in deals done lately since, even though scrap globally is rather firm, high supply and critically low demand continue to exert pressure on prices of pig iron, especially that produced by sanctioned Russian producers.
Ex-Russia BPI is heard to have been sold to Turkey at $320-322/mt CFR, which translates to around $302-305/mt FOB Black Sea. According to sources, one lot was small and another one was bigger, while the main Russian exporters have avoided selling at such low levels, still targeting not below $310/mt FOB.
Considering HMS scrap prices in Turkey have settled at $344-353/mt CFR, the price gap between scrap and pig iron in the Turkish market has exceeded $20/mt. High pig iron supply was one of the main reasons for this.
“At present, it is a dead period for pig iron trading from Russia, such has not been seen in the past three years,” a source said.
Almost all other sales destinations have been silent. Only one deal for 40,000 mt of ex-Russia sanctioned pig iron was done to Asia at $340/mt CFR, which translates to $295-300/mt FOB Black Sea. Market sources agree that the seller wanted to find somewhere to sell a large volume at once, and most other producers will not accept such a low level.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia BPI has declined to $300-310/mt FOB Black Sea, down $7.5/mt on average over the past week.