The London Metal Exchange base metal prices barring aluminium traded higher on Friday October 23, with the US dollar on shaky ground. US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that could be a settlement "pretty soon" on the bill which Democrats and President Donald Trump propose providing $2.2 trillion in targeted relief in what is the world's largest economy. The dollar i...Read More
An overview of the aerospace materials markets and the latest price moves.Read More
The United States silicon metal price reached $1.03 per lb on the high end on Thursday October 22, further surpassing domestic producers' $1 per lb cost of production and attaining its highest price since September 2019. The high end broke the psychological price barrier of $1 per tonne last week and rose for the third consecutive week in this Thursday's assessment because of recent widesprea...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Europe, Asia and the United States for the week ending Friday October 23.China Seaborne 37% and 44% manganese port indices both slid after market sentiment weakened further amid falls in the portside ore and futures alloy markets amid growing port inventories.Portside manganese ore prices for both grades weakened further after some ore traders slashed the...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves. Read More
The cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets...Read More
The cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets...Read More
Liberty Steel, part of the GFG Alliance, has restarted Adhunik Steel in India six months after it acquired the plant, the company said on Thursday October 22. The company said that it had restarted the first phase of production at Adhunik Metaliks Ltd and Zion Steel following the acquisition of the steel businesses in February 2020. The acquisition of the Indian site is a strategic investment in o...Read More
Prices for inter-merchant light iron scrap in the UK market were unchanged during the week to Friday October 23 on tight domestic supply and a pick-up in export demand to deep-sea destinations, industry sources told Fastmarkets.Scrap coming into yards was reported to be down about 40% year-on-year and there is healthy demand from British steelmakers since August because steel production has picked...Read More
A temporary freeze in copper scrap generation boosted semi fabricators' usage of refined copper in 2020, market participants said.Many fabricators had to use cathodes instead of copper scrap due to tightened supply, Mark Loveitt, president of the International Wrought Copper Council (IWCC), said during the "2020 Copper Demand Update: Copper Fabricator Industry During COVID-19" virtual workshop on...Read More
Import scrap buyers in Taiwan failed to keep prices stable in the week to Friday October 23 after the bellwether market in Turkey reported price increases, sources said.Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for containerized cargoes of steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), US material import, cfr main port Taiwan was $275-280 per tonne on Friday, widening upward by $5 per tonne from the previous day and up...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday October 22 that are worth another look....Read More
The three-month price of zinc on the London Metal Exchange was the standout performer at the close of trading on Thursday October 22, making a steady approach toward resistance at the $2,600-per-tonne threshold.Copper futures were the laggard over the day, in spite of Wednesday's upsurge.Zinc's underlying price on the LME closed at $2,578.50 per tonne on Thursday afternoon, climbing from an intrad...Read More
Freeport-McMoRan has proposed expanding its existing copper smelter at Gresik in Indonesia by 30% and adding a precious metals refinery in place of constructing an entirely new smelter nearby. The chief executive officer of the US copper producer said this option was attractive to the government of Indonesia as an alternative to undertaking a major construction project during the Covid-19 pandemic...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday October 22 that are worth another look....Read More
Chrome market participants have been surprised by the South African government's proposal to introduce an export tax on chrome ore to support its chrome sector but sought further detail about what it involves and when it would be carried through.The proposed export tax on South African chrome ore is designed to support domestic ferro-chrome production and its chrome value chain, the South African...Read More
US copper producer Freeport-McMoRan said its Cerro Verde copper mine in Peru is operating at around 90% of its 2019 annual average while it works to restore operations following restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The mine, in which Freeport owns a 53.56% stake, saw operating rates average 351,000 tonnes per day of ore during the third quarter, the company said. Consolidated sales i...Read More
Fastmarkets will launch two new European high-carbon ferro-chrome price assessments on Tuesday October 27 this year, which will run alongside the existing price assessment until the end of 2021.After a consultation period, Fastmarkets has concluded that it will launch price assessments for ferro-chrome, high carbon, 6-8.5% C, basis 60-64.9% Cr, max 3% Si, cif Europe, $ per lb Cr, and ferro-chrome,...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore remains the most bullish commodity of the year, with prices fuelled by Chinese demand and supply disruptions in Brazil, along with bullish sentiment. But prices are expected to come down because Brazilian exports have begun to recover, and have reached their highest level since the Brumadinho dam disaster in 2019. W...Read More
Turkish steel mills have returned to the deep-sea scrap markets, booking several cargoes at higher prices than previously, market sources said on Thursday October 22.On Wednesday, sources speculated on the direction prices could move after three days with no bookings. But that was before the latest transactions came to light late in the day, after Fastmarkets' index calculation had closed.A steel...Read More