The weekly Davis Index for basic pig iron (BPI) dropped to $286/mt cfr New Orleans on Thursday amid low demand and inactive markets as related industries continues to cut operations.
BPI producers report tight supply and are offering little tonnage in the market. Material is expected to get tighter until July as Brazilian and CIS producers have sold approximately 800,000mt to China since late February.
BPI sales to the US were heard within the past week at $325/mt cfr Nola, however these deals remained unconfirmed on Thursday.
A few offers were heard in the market this week at $280-300/mt cfr Nola, but no new deals were confirmed at these prices. The last BPI sale to the US was a mid-March CIS-origin cargo that sold for around $350-355/mt cfr Nola, with offer levels declining thereafter.
The index for nodular pig iron (NPI) imports dropped by $5/mt to $373/mt cfr Nola, as offers, though not readily available, declined to around $370-375/mt cfr Nola. Prior offers—around January 23—were higher at $405-430/mt cfr Nola with no confirmed sales since Dec 2019.
The weekly Davis Index for US hot briquetted iron (HBI) imports declined by $11/mt from $209/mt cfr Nola to $198/mt cfr Nola, amid low offer prices and downward pressure on other grades. Venezuelan HBI is not generally being offered to North America. The last HBI import material offers from Venezuela to the US were at around $245/mt in September 2019, however, most cargos from the South American country have moved to Europe since then.