Pig iron prices impacted by ongoing crisis in Ukraine

Due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, some domestic steelmakers have stopped accepting export orders for the time being. Naturally this situation has impacted pig iron supplies too, with some Ukrainian mills having withdrawn their pig iron tenders. Thus, no pig iron export offers are heard from Ukraine to Turkey at the moment. Meanwhile, Russian pig iron suppliers have revised their offers slightly upwards due to the problems Ukrainian suppliers face. In addition, the ongoing rising trend in scrap prices has also provided support for Russian suppliers' pig iron quotations.
 
This week's pig iron offers from Russia to Turkey stand at $425-440/mt CFR. Market sources state that these levels have been found to be on the high side by Turkish buyers and will face difficulties in gaining acceptance by them. Meanwhile, it is heard that some pig iron sales have been concluded over the past two weeks in the range of $420-425/mt CFR from Russia to Italy. On the other hand, Russian pig iron offers to the US, Russia's biggest export destination for pig iron, are varying at $415-425/mt CIF. Market players report that pig iron demand in the US is decent.