The weekly Davis Index for CIS basic pig iron increased by $4/mt to $294/mt fob Black Sea on Friday on new sales to China.
A strong demand for pig iron is supporting higher prices. China was the main buyer for the material from CIS this week. Two Ukrainian suppliers sold pig iron (around 100,000mt in total) at $320-325/mt cfr late in the week, while Brazilian material changed hands at $320/mt cfr China earlier.
CIS pig iron exporters increased offers to $320/mt cfr to all other outlets. They expect demand in Italy to improve further amid recovering steel production after the COVID-19 related lockdown ended in the country. As a result, the weekly Davis Index for CIS pig iron in Italy rose by $2/mt to $310/mt cfr on Friday.
Turkish mills were focused on ferrous scrap this week and did not show an interest in pig iron purchases.
CIS pig iron suppliers plan to resume negotiations for July shipment cargoes with US customers soon and are targeting a minimum price of $300/mt fob.