The weekly Davis Index for basic pig iron (BPI) held unchanged at $672/mt cfr New Orleans port on Friday in a subdued but firm market while CIS BPI trended flat at $642/mt fob Black Sea.
The gap between offers and what mills are willing to pay for pig iron is starting to widen. Recent BPI offers remain strong at $680-700/mt cfr Nola, with no new transactions at that level yet. CIS producers are keeping offers up as freight costs have risen by about $15-20/mt recently. US buyers are bidding $660/mt cfr Nola and under, but consumers are seemingly not pursuing material at present.
A new transaction was fixed in Italy, where around 5,000mt of Ukrainian pig iron changed hands at $670/mt cfr. As a result, the weekly Davis Index for CIS BPI in Italy climbed by $1/mt to $670/mt cfr. A Russian exporter sold a small cargo to Western Europe at $680/mt fob Baltic Sea this week.
In Turkey, demand from mills was low, but a trader booked Ukrainian material at $665/mt cfr for distribution. Besides, a pig iron sale was heard from India to Turkey at $630/mt cfr, but the deal was not confirmed by the time of publication.
The Davis Index for nodular pig iron (NPI) imports was unchanged at $748/mt cfr Nola. The material remains in limited supply with offers involving future shipment only. The latest offers for NPI have firmly ranged between $750-780/mt cfr Nola with bids a touch below.
US hot briquetted iron (HBI) imports remain flat at $470/mt cfr Nola as offers or bids have not been heard for the grade. The material’s price level is based on the most recent offers together with a price evaluation with comparable grades.