Offers from the major Russian mills have been at $340-350/mt FOB, but “there is no demand in Turkey and the tradable level is closer to $345/mt CFR [translating to $325/mt FOB] for buyers there,” a source said.
A sale for a small lot of high grade low-manganese and low-sulphur pig iron from Russia has been heard at $390/mt FOB, up by $10/mt over the past week. The offered volume of higher-grade material is limited, which has resulted in a higher price being accepted, considering some foundries needed a stable supply of such raw material.
The major Russian mill “delivered only 9,500 mt to Novorossiysk in May... Given their production of 120,000 mt of commercial pig iron per month, their warehouse will grow by 100,000 mt by the end of May,” a Russian source said.
In the other sales destinations apart from Turkey, the situation has been worse with bids below $300/mt FOB Black Sea. In particular, the tradable level in India’s import market has been heard at $330-340/mt CFR, translating to $290-300/mt FOB.
Also, a lot of basic pig iron from Russia has been traded to Taiwan at $340/mt CFR. Market sources said that this material will be shipped from the Far East ports of Russia with freight at $20-25/mt. If shipped from the Black Sea, the FOB price would be very low, below $300/mt.
Among most major suppliers of pig iron, there is no intention to give anything below $320/mt FOB Black Sea, even including sanctioned ex-Donbass material.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia BPI has been at $310-340/mt FOB, with the midpoint at $325/mt FOB Black Sea. The average price is up by $2.5/mt, but the range has widened by $10/mt on the higher end and by $5/mt on the lower end.