The weekly Davis Index for CIS basic pig iron decreased by $14/mt to $297/mt fob Black Sea on Friday, as sales to China were reported.
CIS pig iron exporters are trading with Chinese importers again, but had to agree on lower prices as the latter were their only buyers. A few day ago, a Russian supplier sold 50,000mt of the material, which is scheduled for late May shipment, at $325/mt cfr. Another Russian supplier sold 50,000mt of pig iron for around $330/mt cfr this week, and sold the same amount for $333/mt cfr last week. As a result, China bought 150,000mt of the material from the CIS.
Pig iron export prices in the CIS have declined because there aren’t any buyers and global ferrous scrap prices are dropping. However, significant Russian ruble devaluation provided pig iron sellers with some relief.
Demand for pig iron from the CIS was low in both the US and Turkey this week. Some suppliers offered the material at $325/mt cfr to the US, but there wasn’t any interest. Although business in China has begun recovering from the COVID-19 outbreak, US and Turkish steelmakers are still struggling because their product orders are very low.
Activity in the Italian pig iron market has been non-existent because the country is fighting severe spread of COVID-19 and remains under strict lockdown. As a result, the weekly Davis Index for the CIS pig iron in Italy is based on current fob prices and decreased by $10/mt to $323/mt cfr on Friday.