With China significantly ahead of the curve in terms of economic recovery after Covid-19, its ambitious infrastructure investments have been under the spotlight because of the enormous boost to domestic consumption - especially demand for steel products. During Fastmarkets' International Ferro-alloys Virtual Conference on November 9, Una Yin, a steel market analyst in the Fastmarkets Research team...Read More
China will set standards for the quality of steel rebar used for reinforcing concrete in the construction sector by 2022, according to a notice released by the Ministry of Industry & Information Technology (MIIT) on Saturday November 7.The standards for the product, which it describes as hot-rolled ribbed steel bar in Chinese, will be drawn up by China Metallurgical Information & Standardization I...Read More
Some container shipping lines are refusing to give rates for December shipments of scrap metal into South Asia and are even cancelling some existing orders, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 6.Four steel scrap traders that speak to Fastmarkets said they have either been unable to get December shipment quotations from their freight forwarders or are aware of others facing a similar situat...Read More
Finished steel inventories at member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (Cisa) fell by 11.26% in late October from the middle of the month, according to data released on Wednesday November 4.October 21-31 outputCrude steel: 2.16 million tonnes per day, down 0.77%Finished steel: 2.14 million tpd, up...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday November 9 that are worth another look.The European Commission (EC) has ended an anti-subsidy investigation into hot-rolled stainless steel sheet and coil originating from China and Indonesia, the EC said on November 9.TradeCloud chief operating officer...Read More
During a review of its specifications, Fastmarkets has identified a necessary clarification to the specification for its arsenic price assessment.Fastmarkets has updated the price description of its fortnightly price assessment for arsenic to Arsenic, 99% min As, in-whs Rotterdam, $ per lb, to match the quality listed in the detail specification list. It previously, and erroneously, was listed as...Read More
An uptrend in the finished flat steel products sector, both in some customers' markets and in the CIS region itself, has resulted in higher merchant slab prices from CIS mills, Fastmarkets learned on Monday November 9.Last week, Turkish mills were heard offering hot-rolled coil to foreign customers at $550-560 per tonne fob, up from $520-530 per tonne fob in late October. Turkish sources noted tha...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange remained the standout performer at the close of trading on Monday November 9, while a steady incline in the US dollar index resulted in declines in LME copper and aluminium over the afternoon.The price of nickel rose by more than 2%, reacting positively to news of a prospective vaccine against Covid-19 and the election of Joe Biden to the U...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday November 9 that are worth another look.The European Commission (EC) has ended an anti-subsidy investigation into hot-rolled stainless steel sheet and coil originating from China and Indonesia, the EC said on November 9.TradeCloud chief operating officer...Read More
Now is not the time for Freeport-McMoRan to be thinking about mergers and acquisitions, the mining company's chief executive officer says.According to Richard Adkerson, the company - which is just over half-way through a mega-project to transform its giant Grasberg copper-gold mine in Indonesia from an open-pit to an underground operation - is on the verge of creating huge shareholder value."I jus...Read More
Plans for a London Metal Exchange spot trading platform have sparked intense debate within the aluminium industry. But opponents and supporters don't necessarily fall into the camps that one might expect. For starters, a decision by the LME not to change its futures contract, establish a new green aluminium contract or set thresholds to define what constitutes low-carbon metal is proving key in st...Read More
Sometimes it is better to let a situation speak for itself. Alcoa, Rio Tinto Aluminium, Novelis, Constellium, Arconic, Kaiser Aluminum, Tri-Arrows Aluminum, American Metal Chemical Corp, Hydro Extrusion North America, JW Aluminum, Real Alloy, Reynolds Consumer Products, Scepter, Silberline Manufacturing Co, Smelter Service Corp and Wagstaff. The US Aluminum Association, which represents more than...Read More
Suppliers are offering wider discounts in early negotiations for long-term ferro-vanadium contracts for 2021 compared with 2020 on an uncertain steel demand outlook amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, market sources told Fastmarkets.Long-term contracts for ferro-vanadium in Europe are usually settled against Fastmarkets' European benchmark price assessment with the parties agreeing a discount to t...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange remained the standout performer at the close of trading on Monday November 9, while a steady incline in the US dollar index resulted in declines in LME copper and aluminium over the afternoon.The price of nickel rose by more than 2%, reacting positively to news of a prospective vaccine against Covid-19 and the election of Joe Biden to the U...Read More
Iron ore prices increased in both the futures and seaborne markets on Monday November 9, sources told Fastmarkets, supported by rising steel prices and despite stronger sintering restrictions in China's steelmaking hub of Tangshan. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $121.75 per tonne, up $3.95 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $122.25 per tonne, up $4.2...Read More
Base metals prices on both the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were mainly stronger this morning, Monday November 9, after markets reacted positively to Joe Biden winning the US presidential election and the resulting weaker dollar. China's unwrought copper imports climbed 43% in October, year on year. China total exports climbed by 11.4% in October from a year ago, while total...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: SHFE tailwind for LME pricesAs we are entering the traditional strong demand season, we expect Chinese aluminium demand to show further recovery, and we expect demand from existing end-user sectors, new infrastructure projects and the export sector to show some increases. As a result, we believe that S...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view, including an upgrade to our aluminium price forecasts.Aluminium: Price forecasts raisedWe correctly expected the macro reflationary theme to raise the prices for all base metals but, with it being the base metal with by far the weakest fundamentals, we had expected the price of aluminium to underperform relative...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.These include an increase in our copper mine disruption estimates, upgrades to our production outlook for Indonesian nickel pig iron (NPI), a smaller refined zinc surplus, and an upgrade to our zinc price forecasts.Aluminium: Big disconnect between price and fundamentalsAluminium has extended its uptrend on the London Metal...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. We also review our price forecasting accuracy for the second quarter 2020.Q2 2020 price forecast performance review According to the results of Fastmarkets' Apex for the second quarter of 2020 published this week, Fastmarkets' base metals research team was the second most accurate price forecaster for nickel (99.06%), lead...Read More