With a virtual LME Week starting on Monday October 19, the base metals market is starting to focus on negotiating 2021 contracts. Here, read about how the evolving nature of virtual negotiations is affecting the aluminium, copper, nickel and tin markets. Aluminium: Uncertainty stirs expectation of active spot market Aluminium market participants are likely to put extra emphasis on spot deals for 2...Read More
Turkish steel mills continued to book deep-sea scrap for November shipments at slightly higher prices in the working week to Friday October 16, easing the oversupply in the United States. Improving buying interest for finished steel supported scrap imports into Southeast Asia.Turkish steel mills replenish scrap stocks on strong export salesTurkish bookings welcomed in US due to oversupplyRecoverin...Read More
An overview of the new energy raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Smelter- and mill-grade aluminium scrap prices in the United States rose almost across the board in the week to Thursday October 15 while buyers reported increasing difficulties buying material at past pricing levels."It does seem like secondaries are getting stronger," one seller said. "I have had more calls for material. Some traders were having difficulties filling their orders for old sheet."F...Read More
Mining company Rio Tinto has teamed up with construction materials company Lafarge Canada to reuse waste from the aluminium smelting process to make cement. The circular economy initiative - designed to reduce the need to extract other raw materials and create value from waste - comes as mining companies seek ways to operate in a more sustainable manner. Lafarge unit Geocycle Canada has worked wit...Read More
The London Metal Exchange is making moves to solve an issue blown up by the coronavirus pandemic, namely that its system for allocating metal bought and sold around the world is still managed through pieces of paper. That has become problematic in a world where logistics have been severely disrupted. Organizing couriers to take warrants, which bestow title to specific lots of metal in warehouses f...Read More
The London Metal Exchange's latest off-warrant stock data showed a net rise of 184,352 tonnes of material held outside the LME network month on month in August, with aluminium stockpiles accounting over 80% of the total, while zinc inventories continued their ascent both on and off-warrant. The data, released on Monday October 10, reported stock levels at the end of August. The data is released wi...Read More
Fastmarkets' copper concentrate TC/RC index has dropped amid a flurry of smelter deals below $50 per tonne / 5 cents per lb pressuring the market down.Sources that spoke to Fastmarkets reported several sales to smelters with TCs of $48 per tonne, $49 per tonne and $50 per tonne. There were no deals reported with TC/RCs above $50 per tonne / 5 cents per lb this week, trading sources said.Traders, m...Read More
Lead stocks in Shanghai Futures Exchange-registered warehouses recorded their largest growth in percentage terms in the week ended Friday October 16. The main inflow entered the Zhejiang Tianchuan warehouse in Zhejiang, which received 5,392 tonnes - an increase of 68.5% - from 7,868 tonnes the week before, leaving total stocks at 13,260 tonnes.Demand for lead...Read More
Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) is set to reach full capacity by the end of November, with a planned restart for the idled blast furnace (BF) in the latter half of the month amid recovering demand, top executives said on Friday October 16."From the third quarter, expectations [for Brazil's steel market] have rebounded," chief executive officer Benjamin Steinbruch told an...Read More
Slab export prices from Brazil inched up in the week ended Friday October 16, with sellers focusing on the US market due to limited material availability.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob main port Brazil was $490-505 per tonne on Friday, narrowing upward from $480-505 per tonne on October 9.The assessment is at its highest since May 17, 2019, when it reached $510-52...Read More
Brazilian flat and long steel producer Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) will increase its prices in November for flat steel products by 7.5-10%, and for rebar by 10%, because of recovering demand and the high prices of imported material."The current premium [the difference between prices of domestically produced and imported material] for hot-rolled coil is a negative 5-10%, which allows us t...Read More
Polish industrial investor Sunningwell International Polska has extended its lease of insolvent Polish steel plate producer Huta Czestochowa, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday October 16.Sunningwell won an earlier tender to buy Huta Czestochowa but failed to submit payment in time. It was granted permission to extend the lease of the mill, but not beyond June 30, 2021, a source in the district co...Read More
Domestic Turkish prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) and color-coated coil (pre-painted galvanized iron or PPGI) decreased in the week to Friday October 16, due to slow demand, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment of steel HDG, domestic, exw Turkey was $670-680 per tonne on Friday, down by $10 per tonne week on week from $680-690 per tonne previously.The assessment...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe were fairly stable day on day on Friday October 16, but buyers expect domestic mills to announce higher prices soon, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?495.83 ($581.05) per tonne on Friday October 16, up by just ?,?0.20 per tonne from ?,?495.63 per tonne o...Read More
Domestic ferrous scrap prices in Germany have fallen only slightly in the month to Friday October 16, supported by good demand from the country's mills, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for steel scrap No E3 (old thick steel scrap), domestic, delivered mill, Germany, was ?,?240-245 ($287-293) per tonne on October 16 compared with ?,?240-250 per tonne in mid-September....Read More
The pig iron import market in the United States remained quiet during the week to Friday October 16, with no trading activity reported. Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US was $370-375 per tonne on Friday, unchanged week on week."[The] market level in the US depends more on the Chinese market level than on some internal...Read More
The pig iron export market out of the Commonwealth of Independent States has been strong over the past week, with new sales to China amid low availability. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for high-manganese pig iron, export, fob main port Black Sea, CIS was $350-355 per tonne on Thursday October 15, narrowing from $346-360 per tonne a week earlier.Two sales of Russia-origin pig...Read More
The price of shredded scrap imported into India inched upward on Friday October 16 after the downward price trend in the market reversed, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated the steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India, at $308.62 per tonne on Friday, up from $305.74 per tonne one week earlier. This was the first upward movement after four consecutive weeks of...Read More
Prices for inter-merchant light iron scrap in the UK market stabilized during the week to Friday October 16 after a small drop last week, supported by a relatively tight balance between supply and demand and a pick-up in European export prices, industry sources told Fastmarkets.Scrap generation in the UK continues to be fairly tight, with major shredders competing regularly for purchases despite l...Read More