Following a certain revival in imports in China lately on the heels of rising prices in the domestic raw material segment, global basic pig iron (BPI) suppliers have become more bullish when evaluating tradable prices. In particular, having floated an export tender for 30,000 mt of BPI last week, an Indian producer has ultimately managed to get a price approximately $5/mt higher than its initial target. Accordingly, SteelOrbis has learned that the cargo in question has been sold to a major Chinese steel mill at $537.5/mt CFR, which nets back to around $505/mt FOB taking into account the freight rate. The material is destined to be shipped in the middle of February. “I guess it is rather a slight and temporary uptick, due to some restocking needs and psychologic effects, since central banks have changed capital requirements and the market seems to be hoping for a further governmental stimulus after the Beijing Olympics and Chinese New Year festivities,” a European trader commented with regard to the booking in question. “That cargo price is high only because of the delivery time. Otherwise, everyone is below $520/mt CFR,” an official at a Chinese mill stated.
Meanwhile, on January 10, prices for coking coal and coke in China have continued to trend upwards. In particular, the price for hard coking coal in the most-traded contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) surged by RMB 8/mt ($1.25/mt) to RMB 2,288.5/mt ($358/mt), while the coke futures price rose to RMB RMB 3178.5/mt ($498.7/mt), up by RMB 19/mt ($3.3/mt). However, import iron ore prices in China have softened compared to the previous week. Specifically, the price for iron ore fines with 62 percent Fe content has decreased to $125.5/mt CFR, chiefly due to lower trading.