Category: Raw Material Prices

SMU's Stephen Miller provides an update on the raw materials sector.

There has been considerable upward movement in the US prices paid for future shipment of Brazilian-produced pig iron over the last week. 

A comparison of the current cost of pig iron vs. busheling scrap.

On Jan. 18, Teck Resources announced that it expects its Trail smelter in Canada to produce 190,000 to 230,000 metric tons (mt) in 2025, down 10-25% from its 256,000 mt output in 2024. The company announced that the lower output was to maximize profitability and value amid the current tightness in zinc concentrate availability relative […]

There is no doubt pig iron will be needed to fuel the expansion of flat-roll capacity in the US and Canada. Where will it come from? How much will it cost? What will be the quality? Is it a good business to produce merchant pig iron? The US imports between 4-6 million metric tons (mt) per year of […]

Pig iron prices declined in all regions as the EU’s 2025 import quota on Russian pig iron has begun, loosening global supply.

A bleak outlook for steel demand has undermined market confidence, contributing to the drop in prices.

Prices for pig iron imports into the US continue to retreat in the face of regional weakness in demand for ferrous raw materials in South Asia and the Far East.

The prices being paid by US-based buyers has continued to decline as ferrous raw material demand across the globe remains weak.

On Monday, Nucor published new extras effective Jan, 4, 2025.

The slowdown in North American zinc demand in recent months has played out across all sectors, and CRU now expects it to contract by 3.7% y/y.

Prices were stable to down in November for all seven steelmaking raw materials tracked by SMU, according to our latest analysis.

Ferrous scrap prices were largely rangebound to down at the November settle, market sources told SMU.

The pig iron markets have retreated over the last two months amidst a concerted effort by US-based buyers to drive down prices to more closely follow the lower domestic scrap prices.

Iron ore prices spiked as the Chinese market reopened after the country’s seven day holiday, but the rally started to lose steam on Tuesday afternoon.

We are pleased to share this CRU analysis of the North American zinc market with SMU subscribers.

Last week, iron ore prices dropped below $90 per dry metric ton (dmt) for the second time in the past two years. However, prices rebounded strongly today and ended the week at $93.5/dmt, driven by the stimulus announcement in China.

SMU is pleased to share the latest news from the global pig iron markets from our sister publication, Recycled Metals Update.

The basic pig iron (BPI) market remains virtually unchanged despite perceived weakness in other ferrous materials, such as scrap, billets, HRC and iron ore.

It’s buy week again for ferrous scrap. US steelmakers are expected to offer their prices for August shipment this week. Most of the dealers and brokers RMU has quizzed believe the market has enough traction to hold sideways and even go up.

Pig iron prices have been trending higher in all key markets besides Europe. Limited exports from Brazil and Ukraine are contributing to higher prices in the USA, though soft demand cushioned a sharp price upswing. In the US, pig iron prices increased by $15 per metric ton (mt) m/m to $485/mt CFR NOLA. Buying activity […]

If successful in its overtures to Anglo American, BHP will create the world’s largest diversified miner by a country mile. The rationale for this merger is scale and in mining, size matters. 

Numerous mid-sized export yards in California and in Baja Mexico had little to no inventory on the ground last week because most had sold forward in the falling March market. Looking to secure their margins, they dropped prices across the scale. That resulted in lower-than-normal flows. “I’m sold out through mid-April and even longer if the flow doesn’t pick up” one yard owner said. That turned out to be the position of numerous West Coast suppliers.

Prices for pig iron in Brazil have increased despite efforts by US-based buyers to lower them. 

The strong resilience of iron ore prices has come to an end with the weak steel performance worldwide and significantly improved iron ore availability in China.

In the period between mid-February and mid-March, CRU forecasts global demand for steelmaking raw materials to change little from the previous month,but buying activity will improve towards the end of next month

The CRUmpi declined by 1.7% month over month (m/m) to 325.2 in February, compared to a 4.3% m/m increase in February 2023.

The iron ore market has been largely calm, with China observing the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday period, while demand in Europe and JKT has been slow to pick up. Supply has been somewhat weaker, but overall, the price has held steady. Supply from Port Hedland remained unchanged w/w despite Roy Hill having no shipments […]

The pig iron market has risen in recent months from the high $390s per metric ton (mt) last fall to $490/mt for Brazilian material and a bit more for Ukrainian product - for an overall average of $495/mt CFR.

CRU forecasts that global demand for steelmaking raw materials will fall month over month (m/m) between mid-January and mid-February. The major downward pressure on raw materials demand will come from China, where steel end-use demand will fall toward the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday (Feb. 10–17).