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Black Sea merchant pig iron prices remained firm in the first week of August as CIS producers maintained slightly higher offers and even achieved small gains in recent sales, market sources said Friday.

A trader in Europe said prices have bottomed out and started to increase thanks to more "buying interest materializing into real orders."

Offers from the Black Sea were seen at $240-$245/mt FOB directed to buyers in Turkey, Italy and the US, he said.

The quotations were in line with the offers for September production into the US pegged at $260/mt CIF New Orleans, a Russian trade source commented. At the same time, buyers indicated their target price at $255/mt CIF. The trader added that so far pig iron prices nudged up just slightly but further rise is uncertain.

"I think [the CIS mills] got very excited about the scrap increase in Turkey but so far I haven't seen it really helped pig iron," the Russian trader commented.

A Ukrainian mill confirmed it was ready to sell its basic pig iron at $240-$245/mt FOB Sea of Azov but its last sales were fixed at $235/mt FOB. This level was confirmed by a European trader, who reported deals closed by a Ukrainian mill into Italy and Turkey at respectively $250-255/mt CIF Marghera and $247/mt CFR Marmara, both normalised to $235/mt FOB Sea of Azov.

The mill is "now pushing for higher numbers," the trader said.

S&P Global Platts put its weekly pig iron assessment at $230-$240/mt, indicating the mid-point of $235/mt FOB Black Sea on Friday, up $2.50/mt on week.