Prices for ex-Russia basic pig iron (BPI) have been relatively stable this week as trading in the major markets has been limited and the bid-offer mismatch has remained too wide in Europe. The tradable level for Russian material has improved only in the Turkish market, but, with a lack of deals continuing to be seen, the general reference price has been close to last week’s level.
In Europe, the opposition between buyers and sellers has continued, with the first assessing the tradable level to be still at $340-350/mt CFR (around $310-315/mt FOB), while sellers have still been targeting at least $40/mt more. Sources said that shipments to Europe have continued and the remaining quota for 2025 is 220,000 mt at the moment. Buyers believe that, after the quota is used up, ex-Russia prices will decline due to the absence of many markets for exporters, so they are reluctant to accept high prices at the moment. The logic of Russian mills is the opposite: they are trying to sell at higher levels now, as it will still be cheaper for European mills than other origins after the quota is filled.
Also, some rumors that Russian exporters will try to avoid sanctions and will keep selling to Europe after the quota have emerged. “There are violations of sanctions as pig iron from territories [e.g. Donbass] have still been shipped with Kazakh certificates of origin. But there is no such material in Europe,” a source said.
In Turkey, after scrap rebounded recently, the tradable level for base grade pig iron has increased by $10/mt on average to $455/mt CFR or around $430-435/mt FOB Black Sea and some said than up to $5-10/mt higher is possible for higher grades.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia pig iron stands unchanged at $310-340/mt FOB Black Sea this week, with the midpoint at $325/mt FOB until new deals are disclosed.