Prices for basic pig iron (BPI) in the global market have either been stable with almost zero activity as for the import US market, or have posted further declines in offers and tradable levels as for ex-Russia and ex-Donbass materials. At the same time, though suppliers have been resisting the downtrend, saying that prices may have reached the bottom, importers in the most outlets still think there is room for more declines, SteelOrbis has learned from the market on June 16.
In the benchmark US market, there have been no new deals or firm negotiations after transactions for ex-Brazil pig iron at $475-480/mt CFR. Major Brazilian exporters have been insisting on offers for 0.15 percent phosphorus content BPI at $450-455/mt FOB, versus the last deal prices at $445-450/mt FOB. “I believe we are at bottom, at least for Brazilian pig iron, as prices have fallen too much,” one of the exporters said.
However, it is still hard to find support elsewhere. In particular, European customers have been seeking $400/mt CFR for import pig iron, while offers from Russia have been heard at $425-430/mt CFR Italy and the last bid reported last week was at $410/mt CFR, which, however, has not been confirmed as a deal. The reference price for imported BPI in Italy has fallen from $440-445/mt CFR two weeks ago to $400-430/mt CFR, including offers and bids. “All European customers were in Dusseldorf this week. And the mood among them is pretty bad. I think we can see below $400/mt CFR soon,” a trader said.
At the same time, an indication for ex-Donbass BPI has been heard by a number of customers at $350/mt FOB, down from the targeted $365-370/mt FOB two weeks ago. This level translates to around $380/mt CFR Turkey, though no new deals have been reported so far this week with the uncertainty in the scrap segment.
In the Asian market, prices have been a bit higher, but, still, trading has been very sporadic. Last week, a small tonnage of ex-Russia BPI was traded to South Korea at slightly below $390/mt FOB Black Sea, but this week the workable level would be hardly above $375/mt FOB.
As a result, the SteelOrbis weekly reference price for BPI from Russian Black Sea ports has settled at $350-375/mt FOB this week, versus $370-390/mt FOB a week ago.
There has been a rumor that Indian BPI has been traded at $470/mt CFR to Bangladesh this week, though this could not be confirmed by the time of publication and most sources said that they cannot imagine how the seller could get a price above $420/mt FOB from any buyer.