Notwithstanding a sharp decline in ex-Brazil basic pig iron (BPI) price in the transaction done late last week, another Brazilian supplier has managed to achieve a higher price in the latest trade. Specifically, SteelOrbis has learned of a fresh sale of 35,000 mt of ex-Brazil BPI with 0.10 phosphorus content to a US customer at $550/mt CFR for September shipment, which translates to around $510/mt FOB southern ports, taking into account the freight rate and financing costs. The price is around $60/mt higher than in the previous deal done to the steelmaker in the US late last week. Although the price in the latest transaction has come to most market players as “a great surprise”, the supplier has determined to make a further increase in offer prices, citing the limited supply of material in the global market. In particular, in Brazil one more BPI mill has decided to suspend operations until the business environment improves. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, aggressive offers from Russia-based and Donbass-based BPI producers have left no other choice for first-tier suppliers but to adjust production. Consequently, as of today, at least around 27,000 mt of ex-Brazil BPI per month have been withdrawn from the market.
“The US customers are receiving many vessels now. That is why they are comfortable. But for September shipment and further they will have low availability at $500-600/mt CFR levels,” a market source stated.
Meanwhile, Russian BPI producers appear to have attempted to increase prices. Specifically, the latest BPI offers have been heard at $460/mt FOB Black Sea versus $400/mt FOB Black Sea earlier. Nevertheless, with sanctions widening, buying activity for material of toxic origin is slowing down noticeably. “We do not touch that material any more,” an international trader stated, though until quite recently the trader had not avoided dealing with material of that origin.