The global basic pig iron (BPI) market has posted small changes this week as most major suppliers have been insisting on higher offers, which have not been accepted by buyers. A few lower-priced deals have been reported for ex-Black Sea material, while trading in the US has remained halted.
In the benchmark US import BPI market, trading has been almost silent over the past two weeks. Brazilian suppliers are targeting $410/mt FOB for BPI with 0.15 percent phosphorus content, up from the previous four deals done at close to $400/mt FOB in September, while offers for low-phosphorus material are $420/mt FOB. As scrap prices in the local US market have not fallen as expected for October (only slight declines of around $10/gt are for shredded scrap in Northeast, for example), BPI suppliers have been attempting to increase prices at least a little in the next round. No success has been seen so far, with most US mills due to enter active negotiations closer to the end of the month. "The price was hovering around $400/mt FOB [in previous deals], at which a large part of the smelters are losing money," an international trader said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Black Sea BPI has remained at $350-360/mt FOB, with a midpoint at $355/mt FOB.
One sale of Russian material has been rumoured as having been done to India for 40,000 mt at $405/mt CFR, which translates to around $355/mt FOB Black Sea. But this could not be confirmed by the time of publication as at least two large Russian mills have maintained official offer levels at not below $380-390/mt FOB. Previous negotiable levels to India were at $410-415/mt CFR at the highest in the third week of September.
In Europe, demand has not improved so far. The latest deals from one of the sanctioned mills have been reported at $365-370/mt CFR to the south of Europe, which translates to $340/mt FOB Black Sea at the highest. But “taking into account their chemical content, the price is right. I would say it should not be below $350-355/mt FOB for others,” a trader commented. Another market source confirmed that the tradable level for foundries in southern Europe is at $390/mt CFR or $360/mt FOB, while for steel mills it stands at around $380-385/mt CFR at the highest.
Trading in Turkey is almost halted and no new offers have been reported for ex-Donbass BPI with. “They taking all pig iron for steel production due to the lack of scrap supply,” a source said.