The weekly Davis Index for basic pig iron (BPI) ticked up by $3/mt to $668/mt cfr New Orleans port Friday as bullish offer levels returned. However, activity has paused as the market is more focused on the US domestic scrap trading that commenced Thursday.
The weekly Davis Index for CIS BPI was unchanged at $633/mt fob Black Sea on Friday due to a lack of sales.
BPI offers heard through the week remain strong at $670-700/mt cfr Nola, with no deals closed at those levels yet. The three US BPI import deals from last week were around 50,000mt each, originating in Russia and Ukraine at $665/mt cfr Nola.
The Davis Index for nodular pig iron (NPI) imports rose by $30/gt to $748/mt cfr Nola. The material remains in limited supply with offers involving future shipment only. The latest offers for NPI are firm at $750-780/mt cfr Nola with bids just under.
US hot briquetted iron (HBI) imports ticked up by $2/mt to $470/mt cfr Nola. New offers or bids have not been heard for the grade, but the material’s price movements are based on the most recent offers along with a price comparison with similar grades.
The weekly Davis Index for CIS pig iron in Italy was flat at $663/mt cfr on Friday. Although some exporters offered the material at $670/mt cfr this week, they faced minimal interest from buyers.
In Turkey, offers from the CIS were heard at $650-670/mt cfr though bids were no higher than $640/mt cfr with no deals reported by the time of publications.
The Asian pig iron market was slow this week following weak demand from China. However, a Russian supplier sold 5,000-10,000mt of the material to South Korea at $695/mt cfr. The cargo will be shipped from the Far East of Russia.