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 is ready to view.While steel markets in Asia have demonstrated the most strength with regards to pricing through much of 2020, recent weeks have seen prices in Europe and the United States outperform those elsewhere.In a way, much of this is simply catching up on the gains already made by Asian steelmakers. They were able to obtain higher pri...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US flat-rolled prices began to recover in August, as we expected. The monthly average of our daily HRC index hit $473 per ton ($521/tonne), which was $3/t above our forecast.The upward momentum has since continued and has done so more quickly than we expected - sentiment has turned around dramatically on fundamental developm...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Prices for hot-rolled coil have performed in line with our expectations over the past month, with US domestic HRC prices finding a floor in July in line with the forecast, before improving in August. US HRC prices averaged $473 per short ton in August, compared with our forecast price of $470 per ton.Our prediction that an i...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices performed in line with our expectations in August, with US domestic HRC prices finding a floor in July as forecast before they rose in August. US HRC prices averaged $522 per tonne in August, which compares with our forecast price of $518 per tonne. Based on an improving demand outlook and ris...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:Prices across most ferro-alloy markets trended stable to lower in August as demand remained subdued in major markets, apart from China where steel output continues to rise at a rapid pace, supporting demand for ferro-alloys. As alloy makers seek to remedy supply/demand imbalan...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.We do not consider the average iron ore fines price for September so far above $125 per tonne cfr Qingdao to be sustainable. The bullishness is not likely to last in the long term as we expect Chinese demand growth to slow down. A key factor boosting Chinese steel demand so far has been the stimulus policies from the authori...Read More
The takeaways from the latest edition of the Steel Raw Materials Market Tracker are ready to view.Iron ore prices remained relatively stable last week, signalling an end to the price spike. And for the first time since March, at the time of the Covid-19 lock-down in Hubei, we have seen a consistent downturn in utilization rates in China. Blast furnace utilization rates dropped for a fifth consecut...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In the year 2020 to date in late August, the Fastmarkets 62% Fe iron ore benchmark has powered along and reached six-year highs, supported by Chinese demand, and despite the global economic uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Iron ore demand has weakened almost everywhere except in China, where it has continued to...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.There has been an increasing bullishness in Chinese steel market sentiment recently, with rising post-Covid-19 optimism about the country's economy for the second half of 2020, especially after the government announced an infrastructure spending boost. Although we believe that high prices are justified, they remain far from...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. A look at stainless steel price movements through August reveals the ongoing battle being faced by stainless steelmakers in Europe and the United States while they try to pass on rising costs to consumers. In these regions, prices on most grades of stainless steel are little changed from July, rising by around 2% at most -...Read More
Domestic prices for heavy steel plate in the EU have moved up over the week to Wednesday September 30, despite trading activity remaining slow, market sources have said.Price recovery was supported by higher slab costs and a positive trend in the market for steel coil.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate, 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe, was ?,?480-490 ($562-574) per tonne on...Read More
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the publication time of its weekly steel billet and slab export prices for Iran-origin material in order to better capture the full extent of market activity, and to bring the specifications into line with the majority of Fastmarkets' other regional steel price assessments.The current publication time for both price assessments is Wednesday, 1-2pm London time.The prop...Read More
Arbitrage opportunities dictated metal stock movements in Shanghai's bonded zone over September, with substantial moves in copper, zinc and aluminium inventories.Aluminium in bonded warehouses is now at its highest in three years, while traders poured copper into warehouses rather than importing due to a negative arbitrage and weak demand. Shanghai bonded copper stocks grow by 15% on closed arbitr...Read More
Global zinc and lead premiums remained unchanged across all regions in the week to Tuesday September 29, although increased buying appetite from Indian battery makers supported the Indian lead premium, Fastmarkets heard.A favorable arbitrage gain attracted several thousands of tonnes of zinc into China last weekChina's zinc market quietens into this week ahead of the week-long national Golden Week...Read More
China nickel ore prices continued their ascent in the week to Tuesday September 29 - outstripping other regional prices - while United States briquette premiums narrowed at the bottom end of the range and consumers began to restock ahead of the fourth quarter, sources said.China's nickel ore price rally continues unabated while regional nickel sulfate prices downThe already-low US premiums narrow...Read More
The return of a contango across LME copper's benchmark cash/three-month spread prompted fluctuations across Asian physical premiums this week, after sizeable cargoes were delivered into LME-registered warehouses. Yet ample availability and lackluster demand in both the US and European grade A cathode markets saw premium levels hold while the metal's three-month LME price continues to trade fi...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have climbed to their highest since early March while some mills have been quoting higher yet again.Fastmarkets calculated the daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US at $30.29 per hundredweight ($605.80 per short ton) on Wednesday September 30, up by 0.4% from $30.17 per cwt on Tuesday September 29 and up by 1.7% from $29.79 per cwt on September...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe inched up over the week to Wednesday September 30, driven by reduced output from domestic mills and a lack of competitive import offers, sources have told Fastmarkets.Sentiment in the market has been mixed because some participants expected prices to rise further, while others expected them to remain at their current level.Fastmarkets calculated its da...Read More