Pig iron prices rise in Brazil

Brazilian iron market players have increased their offers since the beginning of November. They were driven by increased demand and low availability of the material in the market.

“The demand for pig iron is growing in the Brazilian market. Most manufacturers have raised prices while watching the market and evaluating how to adapt their products to new deals in 2020, ”says a market source in Brazil. However, according to him, local factories have neither material for export nor pig iron in stock until January.

According to market participants, the average export price for pig iron is $ 290 per ton in Brazil.

The latest data from the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (Mdic) show that the country increased its pig iron exports on both a monthly and an annual basis in October.

Brazil shipped 321,840 tons of pig iron in October. This is the country's largest export volume since September 2015, when shipments abroad reached 369,280 tons.

Exports in October increased by 60.9%, or 121,820 tons, compared with the same month in 2018, and 12.1% more than September's 287,270 tons. Pig iron exports in the first ten months increased to 2,241,343 thousand tons, or 46.9% compared to January-October 2018.

The main destination of Brazilian pig iron during this period was the United States, which accounted for 45% of the country's total exports. Holland was the second largest importer with 14% shares, followed by Taiwan and Mexico with 10% and 6.6% shares respectively.

Pig iron exports amounted to $ 101.6 million in October. USA, or 20.6% more than in the previous year, and the total volume of exports amounted to 785.7 million dollars. USA, which is 31.0% more than in the same period in 2018. Average export value of pig iron compared to the same period last year. date of $ 351 /ton per fob, or -10.7% less than the same period in 2018.