Published by: Christian Willbern<>
14 Mar 2025 @ 21:16 UTC

US basic pig iron (BPI) imports nearly doubled month on month in January amid a surge in Ukrainian BPI shipments, according to the latest US Census trade data.

The US received 630,907 tonnes of BPI in January, up 82.1% from December shipments.
The surge came as a hefty US BPI price drop in December — when January deliveries are booked — made for a palatable choice for US iron metallics buyers.
BPI import prices fell following the significant depreciation of the Brazilian Real in late December, as well as softening prices for US ferrous scrap and Midwest hot-rolled coil throughout the month.
Fastmarkets’ assessments of pig iron basic grade, Brazil and pig iron basic grade, Ukraine/Russia, fob New Orleans dropped to $460-500 per tonne on December 30, down $20-25 per tonne from $485-520 per tonne on November 25.
Ukrainian pig iron imports into the US increased by over 200% to 181,500 tonnes in the month — the largest shipment amount since July 2021, according to US Census trade data.
The states of Illinois and Ohio received the lion’s share of Ukrainian pig iron during the period, with Illinois importing roughly 131,500 tonnes and Ohio importing roughly 50,000 tonnes in January, according to the US Census’ port level data statistics.
Ukrainian pig iron imports comprised 29% of all US pig iron imports in January.
The US imported 341,903 tonnes of Brazilian pig iron in January, up 25.9% from the prior month.
Illinois, Ohio, and Mississippi received the lion’s share of Brazilian pig iron in the month, according to port level data statistics.
Brazilian pig iron imports comprised 54% of all US pig iron imports in January.
In January, a 55,000 tonne, low-phosphorus pig iron shipment from Indonesia landed in the US, according to US Census Bureau data.
The one-off shipment was shipped into Louisiana, according to the US Census Bureau Port Level data statistics.
US direct-reduced iron (DRI) imports also jumped to 171,729 tonnes in the month, the largest monthly imports since December 2021.
DRI imports increased by 69.9% on a month-to-month basis in January.
Ohio was the top destinations for DRI imports, with the state importing roughly 171,671 tonnes of DRI in January.
US ferrous scrap imports fell by 14.8% to 216,368 tonnes in January, largely driven by a drop in No1 bundles shipments.
An absence of UK No1 bundles shipments offset Canadian and Mexican No1 bundles tonnages in January.
In January, the US did not receive any No1 bundles shipments from the UK, down from 42,482 tonnes in December.
This offset a 14.6% increase in Canadian No1 shipments and a 5% increase in Mexican shipments during the month.
The US received 45,774 tonnes of Canadian No1 bundles shipments in January, up from 39,949 tonnes in the prior month.
Mexican No1 bundles shipments reached 41,488 tonnes in the month, up from 39,407 tonnes in December.
The US imported 87,262 tonnes of No1 bundles in January, down 28.4% from December shipments.
The second top imported scrap grade, shredded scrap, also dipped slightly in January.
The US received 64,274 tonnes of shredded scrap in the month, down 10.5% from the prior month.