The export market for pig iron from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has gone down because of lower demand, more supply and a weak scrap market, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday September 5.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for high-manganese pig iron, export, fob main port Black Sea, CIS, was $315-325 per tonne on Thursday, dropping from $330-335 per tonne a week before.
“[The price of] scrap [the relative substitute for pig iron in steel melting] is dropping everywhere,” one source said.
“In the United States, there are expectations of a reduction by $20 [per gross ton] in September; in Italy there also will be a reduction by €20 [$22] per tonne; and in Turkey, there was a rapid $10 per tonne drop this week, so [the price of] pig iron should go down as well,” he added.
“Demand is almost absent in the US while customers wait for finalization [of the…