Following the ex-CIS basic pig iron (BPI) bookings to China which SteelOrbis reported last week, one more deal done by a Russian mill to the US has been disclosed to the market.
Accordingly, at the end of the previous week Russian BPI producer Tula sold a cargo of BPI for December shipment to a US-based steel mill at $369/mt CFR Port of New Orleans. The material is supposed to be shipped from one of the Baltic Sea ports, with a freight rate estimated at $15-18/mt depending on the port. Although the deal is considered by most market insiders as being “lower than the market level” [in comparison to China], it has been concluded about $4/mt higher than the bids which were voiced by US customers last week.
In accordance with the abovementioned deal, the current FOB Black Sea price may be at about $350/mt, which is $3-4/mt lower than what CIS-based producers managed to achieve in their bookings to China last week. “It seems that China keeps determining the trend. Today, China is very quiet on metallic, paying $385/mt CFR. That might be the explanation why a producer [Tula] accepted $369/mt CFR US,” one international trader commented. “The best I have as of today is $387/mt CFR China, but it is totally unacceptable for me, taking into account the price at which I purchased,” another trader said.
In the meantime, the concerns of Brazilian suppliers continue to increase, though they are still not in a hurry to step back from the market. “Lately, I expected to get $395/mt CFR China. The actions of CIS-based mills keep making me confused,” one Brazilian sellers stated.