With colder weather conditions, raw material and steel export activities have become more difficult in the CIS. Especially in Ukraine, cold weather has frozen the sea in some areas and, as reported, loading activities at Mariupol port are almost impossible due to the freezing of the sea.
On the other hand, pig iron demand in the Turkish domestic market has remained on the weak side. Turkish steel mills have recently focused on scrap purchases, while pig iron offers at about $5-10/mt above current scrap prices ($391-393/mt CFR) are expected to be accepted by Turkish buyers. However, Ukrainian pig iron suppliers indicated that they will not accept firm bids below the level of $400-410/mt CFR, while Russian suppliers are reluctant to accept firm bids for pig iron below $410-420/mt CFR. Meanwhile, increasing iron ore prices in China have also provided support for pig iron offers.
As it can be seen in the chart from SteelOrbis import and export section; in the first 10 months of 2012 pig iron imports from Ukraine and Russia, which are the most important pig iron import sources of Turkey, accounted for 94.4 percent of Turkey's total pig iron import volume.
