The weekly Davis Index for CIS basic pig iron surged by $51/mt to $447/mt fob Black Sea on Friday amid an acute shortage of the material. An uptrend in global ferrous scrap and steel product markets also raised pig iron prices.
Demand for pig iron from the CIS remained high at foreign outlets in the last week of November and many transactions were reported. Suppliers achieved a significant price increase due to the scarce availability of the material.
The US market was active and as a result, a Russian exporter sold 50,000mt of pig iron at $452/mt cfr for March shipment, along with a similar cargo at $430/mt cfr for February shipment around a week ago. It should be noted that both cargoes will be shipped from the Baltic Sea basin.
Turkey continued pig iron purchases from the CIS Black Sea basin. Thus, a Ukrainian supplier signed a contract at $475/mt cfr for 5,000-10,000mt of the material, and a Russian exporter closed two deals at $440/mt fob and at $465/mt fob, respectively. Last week, CIS pig iron changed hands at $415-417/mt cfr in Turkey.
Business activity slowed down in China with the only booking of 10,000-20,000mt of pig iron at $434/mt cfr from the Far East of Russia. Still, the price is $12/mt higher than in the previous deal.
The weekly Davis Index for CIS pig iron in Italy surged by $58/mt to $473/mt cfr on Friday amid higher offers and a huge price increase at alternative outlets. However, negotiations in Italy were sporadic and did not result in transactions. In the meantime, a Russian pig iron supplier found a buyer in Western Europe at $465/mt fob Baltic Sea this week.