After a lasting price drop in the US import basic pig iron (BPI) market, a few tentative signs of a rebound have emerged. Though most Brazilian suppliers of pig iron are still not seeing demand at higher prices for basic grades, if the situation in the local steel market in the US continues to improve, this may provide support to pig iron prices.
Another sign of improvement in the market has been a rumor about a deal for 40,000 mt of low-phosphorus pig iron from Brazil at $430/mt FOB, which translates to around $450/mt CFR in the US. At least three market sources said it was done, though some in the market still assess this price level as too high. “Low availability is the major reason for higher prices, and I hope prices up for high P [high-phosphorus pig iron] are tend to go up too,” a Brazil-based source said.
Local steel prices in the US have posted some increase, which supported sentiment in the raw material market as well. “We see the US [import BPI] market in the $445-450/mt CFR range. HRC is up, scrap is firm to sideways, and order books are good,” a US-based source said.
Moreover, there is still low availability of low-phosphorus pig iron in the global market with no firm offers from Ukraine. Market sources said that considering the latest sale from Ukraine to Europe, offers from Ukraine to the US market are unlikely to be seen below $440-445/mt CFR.
Nevertheless, for high-phosphorus BPI from Brazil, there has been no price increase yet. In particular, the latest deal has been rumored to be at $402/mt FOB, minimally changed from the previous ones at $400-401/mt FOB. Market sources believe that Brazilian exporters may target around $405-410/mt FOB for high-phosphorus BPI in the near future.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import BPI (which includes both low- and high-phosphorus materials) has been settled at $430-450/mt CFR, up by $5/mt over the week. The ex-Brazil BPI price for 0.15 percent phosphorus content has been at $400-405/mt FOB, up by a slight $1.5/mt on average.
