The weekly Davis Index for CIS basic pig iron decreased by $6/mt to $362/mt fob Black Sea on Friday on a softening market in China.
Trading was active in the CIS export pig iron market this week, but sale prices dropped to China as Asian importers started insisting on lower pig iron prices amid falling iron ore and steel product rates. As a result, one Russian supplier reached an agreement at $390/mt cfr for 30,000mt of pig iron, and another exporter closed a deal at $385/mt cfr for 10,000-15,000mt of the material. Both cargoes will be shipped from Far East Russia. Previous sale of CIS pig iron to China was done at $394.50/mt cfr from a trader around two weeks ago.
A new transaction was also reported in the US pig iron market after a Russian supplier traded 50,000mt of the material from the Baltic Sea at $387/mt cfr this week, which is in line with last week’s deals at $387-388/mt cfr.
The weekly Davis Index for CIS pig iron in Italy increased by $3/mt to $378/mt cfr on Friday with a fresh booking. Negotiations resulted in a sale of 10,000mt of Ukrainian material at $378/mt cfr this week.