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.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. 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
The Turkish rebar and wire rod export prices have increased with strengthening demand over the past week amid rising imported scrap costs, sources said on Thursday September 10.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob main port Turkey, was $455-465 per tonne on Thursday, up from $440-450 per tonne of last week.Turkish steel mills increased their reba...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Europe, Asia and the United States for the week ended Wednesday September 9.Key drivers Manganese flake price continued to gain strength, with constant increases since August 21 following higher offers from China. These offers from producers were supported by strong domestic demand and by the rise in value of the yuan against the dollar, which meant that buyer...Read More
Several major copper scrap buyers stayed out of the market in the week to Wednesday September 9, which lead to increased discounts for some grades in the United States"The spreads are wide as many mills are not buying currently," a scrap trader said, adding that some ingot makers are also undergoing planned outages."The big buyers are out, even the Chinese have backed off a bit from buying scrap,"...Read More
The placement of two major operations on care and maintenance has removed around 15% of this year's forecast production of nickel used in lithium-ion batteries from the market and demonstrates how tight the market can become, the president of Giga Metals Corp said. Martin Vydra said that the Goro and Ambatovy operations, located in New Caledonia and Madagascar respectively, represent around 71,000...Read More
Triland Metals Singapore Pte Ltd (TMS) has appointed Nicholas Quek as its head of sales & trading, effective September 1. Quek, who joined TMS in April 2019, most recently worked at Raffemet Pte...Read More
New Day Aluminum Holdings has signed a letter of intent with Cemtech Materials Corp to supply it with bauxite residue for use in the cement production process - a deal that will have an environmentally beneficial impact, New Day said.The agreement, made through New Day subsidiary Noranda Alumina, begins in the fourth quarter and will see the bauxite residue used as the raw material for iron, repla...Read More
The three-month copper price was the standout underperformer during morning trading on Thursday September 10, after a complex-wide sell-off emerged during the Asian trading session, while LME nickel futures continued to correct firmly below the $15,000-per-tonne threshold. Copper's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $6,637 per tonne, down by more than 1.7% from Wednesday's closing pric...Read More
A rebound in the United States' Nasdaq Composite Index on Wednesday September 9 may have underpinned broader markets, but the base metals were less convinced with most ending the day in negative territory.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly lower again this morning.Asian-Pacific equities and pre-market major western equity index futures, exclu...Read More
Brazilian imports of flat and long steel decreased year on year in August amid increased prices in China, according to figures released by the country's economy ministry early this week.Imports of flat steel products dropped by 30.3% year on year in August, to 66,302 tonnes from 95,116 tonnes a year before. In comparison, Brazilian imports of flat steel products...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States are closing in on $27.50 per hundredweight ($550 per short ton), while some mills have begun looking to up the ante and raise prices to as much as $30 per cwt ($600 per ton).Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $27.40 per cwt ($548 per ton) on Thursday September 10, up by 1.1% from $27.11 per cwt on Wednesday Sept...Read More
Prices for domestic steel reinforcing bar in the United States rose for the first time since January, after buyers mostly accepted mills' price increases. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), fob mill US climbed to $29.25 per hundredweight ($585 per short ton) on Wednesday September 9, up by 4.5% from $28 per cwt previously, where the price had remained since mid...Read More
Imported steel billet prices increased again in Egypt this week because of higher offer prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday September 10.No bookings were heard during the week, however, because of ebbing end user demand amid weak domestic construction activity, Egyptian sources said.Construction in Egypt has been slow since a construction ban was imposed in the country on May 25, which is...Read More
Turkish steel billet prices have increased this week because of the increasing scrap values, sources said on Thursday September 10.Steel billet producers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) continued to raise their offer prices for exports into Turkey following the recent uptick in Turkish import scrap prices, sources said.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix),...Read More
Turkish domestic long steel prices have increased over the past week on the back of firm scrap costs and a weakening Turkish lira, sources said on Thursday September 10.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, exw Turkey, was 4,050-4,080 lira ($541-545) per tonne, including 18% VAT, on Thursday, up from last week's 3,950-3,960 lira per tonne ex-works.M...Read More
Iron ore prices in the seaborne market fell further on Thursday September 10, with market sources saying that although the fundamentals of iron ore remained stable, the high levels of steel inventories dragged prices downward.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $126.09 per tonne, down by $0.45 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $126.15 per tonne, down by $0.68 per t...Read More
Brazilian ferrous scrap exports fell both year on year and month on month in August while suppliers shifted their focus to the domestic market, data published this week by the country's ministry of the economy shows.Scrap exports reached 55,377 tonnes in August, a 19.7% year-on-year decrease from 69,000 tonnes in 2019 and a 27.6% drop in comparison with 79,460 tonnes in July of this year.The count...Read More