Prices for ex-Russia basic pig iron (BPI) have retreated this week since, even though the overall allocation has not been so big and some sellers have been absent from the market, overall sentiments have been rather negative. Some sales to Turkey have been reported with small discounts.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia BPI has settled at $335-345/mt FOB Black Sea, with the midpoint at $340/mt FOB, down $7.5/mt on average from last week.
A deal for 45,000 mt of ex-Russia BPI has been done at $360/mt CFR to Turkey, with the FOB Black Sea level assessed at $340-342/mt. The same non-sanctioned mill was in negotiations in Turkey at $365-370/mt CFR. “I believe the volume is important and the seller, having almost 150,000 mt in Novorossiysk, was eager to sell and provided discounts for a larger volume,” a market source commented.
Also, some small volume from a sanctioned Russian mill has been sold to the MENA region at $355/mt CFR, which translates to $335/mt FOB Black Sea or slightly below.
The tradable level for Russian BPI in India has been assessed at $340-350/mt CFR, which would not be above $310/mt on FOB Black Sea basis. As the bids are very low, there have been no new bookings.
One of the previously biggest Russian pig iron exporters has stopped one blast furnace and has exited the pig iron export market. But “the market size itself is not so big. The market is bad,” a trading source said.