Published by: Christian Willbern<>
31 Mar 2025 @ 20:08 UTC

Fresh deals, rising geopolitical tensions and bearish US scrap market sentiment limited US pig iron price movement in the week to Monday March 31.
A low-phosphorus, Ukrainian pig iron deal was reportedly concluded last week at $485 per tonne CIF New Orleans, according to sources.
Sources expressed concern about potential US port fees on Chinese-built and -owned vessels, as they already affected freight rates, a US source said.
Vessel owners already raised their freight rates to account for the fees, they continued.
The port fees, US President Donald Trump said, would be implemented to revamp the shipbuilding industry in the US.
The ship building industry is going to take 20 years to become viable. China has 300 shipyards to build vessels and the US has 8, the US source said.
We don’t have the manpower, expertise, technology or shipyards to build vessels in the near future, and it already costs 4 times more to build a vessel in US than anywhere else, they continued.
Public hearings on the potential port fees concluded on Wednesday March 26. The Trump administration has not yet reached a final decision on the matter as of Monday.
This comes as a potential Black Sea ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine failed to alleviate concerns about basic pig iron costs and supply.
At the same time, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a potential ceasefire in the Black Sea early last week, according to major media outlets.
The ceasefire was then thrown into question after Russia required one of its banks to be added back into the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) system, major media outlets reported.
Market participants noted that the potential ceasefire would have little to no impact on current market conditions.
The only thing it would do would be lowering shipping costs a little bit, the US source said.
I’m not sure it will reduce costs until a permanent ceasefire is reached, the US source added.
In the ferrous scrap sector, sources were bearish about the upcoming US monthly ferrous scrap trade.
Everyone thinks scrap is sideways so far, some think there might be a decrease [in May prices], a second US source said.
The second US source noted that an uptick in scrap generation in March subdued potential upswings in scrap pricing, stating that there was “no reason for it to go up again.”
However, the market direction remains unclear as sources wait to see whether potential US tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods will go into effect on Wednesday April 2.
From what I’ve seen, it sounds like they are still going to go into effect but again its totally unsure as to if they will happen, the first US source said.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly assessments for pig iron basic grade, Brazil, fob New Orleans and pig iron basic grade, Ukraine/Russia, fob New Orleans were $485-525 per tonne on Monday, unchanged from the prior week.
Hot-briquetted iron (HBI) prices were stagnant in the week to Monday amid a lack of fresh market activity, sources told Fastmarkets.
[There was] lot of HBI talk, [but] mostly [people] asking where the hell it is going and who’s selling it, the first US source said.
Fastmarkets subsequently assessed prices for hot-briquetted iron, fob New Orleans at $410-445 per tonne on Monday, flat from the prior week.
Brazilian foundry pig iron prices were unchanged in the week to Monday, as no new deals, bids or offers were reported, sources told Fastmarkets.
Despite the lack of market movement, EU demand could be increasing for the material in the near future, the first US source said.
Europeans were talking about looking toward Brazilian foundry once their stockpiles are worked through, they continued.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment for pig iron foundry grade, Brazil, fob New Orleans was $575-595 per tonne on Monday, unchanged week on week.