The weekly Davis Index for CIS basic pig iron increased by $4/mt to $318/mt fob Black Sea on Friday as new sales to China were reported.
Demand for imported pig iron remained high in China supporting a global uptrend in prices. Two Russian suppliers closed deals at $353-354/mt cfr recently, up by $6-7/mt from previous sales to China. Each exporter sold 50,000mt of the material, but one cargo is due to be shipped in September, while the other one in October. Chinese customers accepted higher prices for pig iron amid an uptrend in iron ore and steel product prices.
The demand from China has limited the availability of pig iron to other outlets because of which, CIS suppliers raised offers to the USA to $340-350/mt cfr, although the most recent deal was fixed at $330/mt cfr for Ukrainian material around a week ago.
Some negotiations were taking place in Italy this week, with no transactions reported so far. Buyers were bidding $325/mt cfr for the material, while sellers raised offers to $340/mt cfr. As a result, the weekly Davis Index for CIS pig iron in Italy rose by $5/mt to $333/mt cfr on Friday.