Despite the recent strengthening of scrap deal prices in Turkey and in general the positive moves in the global steel market, basic pig iron (BPI) customers continue to push prices down further, still considering them to be too high compared to scrap prices. Having insufficient support from the demand side, with practically only the US customers being in the market, some pig iron suppliers have accepted prices lower than those initially targeted, while others prefer not to retreat and are closely watching the developments in the raw material market.
Accordingly, SteelOrbis has learned of two fresh bookings done to the US at the end of last week. One cargo of 50,000 mt of ex-Brazil BPI with 0.15 phosphorus content for April shipment was traded at $470/mt FOB, down $10/mt from the previous deal. Meanwhile, the assessments on freight costs continue to diverge in the range of $20-30/mt, largely due to the volatile market recently. The second cargo was sold by a Russian mill at $510/mt CFR, for early May shipment, with the FOB price being estimated at $480/mt FOB Black Sea, taking into account the freight assessed at $30/mt. “After the global market soared, we do not consider the prices in the abovementioned deals as workable for us,” the representative of a CIS-based mill commented.
According to market sources, the negotiations in Italy still have not yielded any results due to the mismatch between offers and bids. While offers have settled largely at $525-535/mt CFR Marghera, one regional customer has voiced a bid at $480/mt CFR.
Consequently, taking into account the current developments, SteelOrbis’ assessment for ex-CIS BPI prices has fallen to $480-490/mt FOB Black Sea this week, versus $490-495/mt FOB Black Sea a week ago.