CIS pig iron exporters look forward to better offers

Black Sea iron ore trading has been at firm prices in the first week of August, with CIS producers maintaining higher bids and even making small gains in recent sales, market sources said.

Traders in Europe noted that after prices bottomed out, prices began to rally due to higher "buying interest that is materializing into actual orders."

Offers for shipping in the Black Sea ports were in the range of $ 240- $ 245 /t FOB and were sent to buyers in Turkey, Italy and the USA. Traders added that so far, pig iron prices have gone up slightly, but further growth is uncertain. At the same time, US buyers have set their maximum target price at $ 255 /t CIF

“I think that the CIS countries have received a very alarming signal about the increase in scrap metal imports in Turkey, but so far this has not affected pig iron,” commented a Russian trader.

One of the Ukrainian producers confirmed that it wanted to sell its pig iron at $ 240- $ 245 /t FOB Sea of ​​Azov, but its last sales were fixed at $ 235 /t FOB. This level was confirmed by a European trader who said that the deals were closed by the Ukrainian plant in Italy and Turkey at the level of $ 250-255 /t CIF Marghera and $ 247 /t CFR Marmara, which corresponds to the level of up to $ 235 /t FOB Sea of ​​Azov.

“Factories are currently pushing for higher prices,” traders say. S&P Global Platts set its weekly pig iron estimate at $ 230- $ 240 /t, indicating an average price of $ 235 /t FOB Black Sea.