Italian basic pig iron import prices remain flat compared to October but there are no major bookings with CIS producers.

Local buyers continue to purchase from trading companies with material stocked at ports for the equivalent of $350/tonne ($404.9/t) cif on average. Buyers remain extremely prudent and are refusing all possible increases. The asking price of $360/t cif from some CIS producers meanwhile has not developed into transactions, Kallanish learns from sources.

Meanwhile Italian hot briquetted iron demand is weak and buyers are not purchasing because of high prices. “There is no HBI at the moment in Italy apart from Lebedinsky which is making annual contracts. Material from Venezuela is not reaching our ports as at $220/tonne fob it is considered too expensive anyway, while Libyan offers are so high that they are out of the market,” a trader tells Kallanish.

According to the port authority of Marghera, in north-east Italy, one of the main hubs for steel in the Mediterranean region, the country received 60,417 tonnes of HBI and 121,649t of pig iron in August.