During the past two weeks, CIS-based pig iron producers have kept their export offers stable at $385-395/mt FOB. It is already known that most Italian mills have left the market due to the ongoing traditional holiday season, while trading activity in the Turkish steel market has come to a halt over the Feast of Sacrifice holiday which lasted a full week starting on August 20. As a result, demand for ex-CIS pig iron has been at low levels.
As scrap prices in Turkey declined to $280/mt CFR in the deals concluded before the holiday, CIS-based pig iron producers are experiencing difficulties on determining their prices for the region. On the other hand, Brazilian pig iron offers to the US are still attractive, and so US buyers’ demand for ex-CIS pig iron has not improved yet. In the coming days, traditional holiday season in Europe will end; hence price inquiries for ex-CIS pig iron from Italian buyers are expected to accelerate since their inventory levels have declined during the holiday.