The threat of Section 232 tariffs on aluminium imports from Canada into the United States has, like the great white shark following the Brody family in the universally panned film, 'Jaws: The Revenge,' returned - akin to a truly awful horror movie franchise. And that's how Neil Herrington, senior vice president for the Americas, US Chamber of Commerce, views reports that the US administration is c...Read More
The London Metal Exchange recently reiterated its willingness to facilitate spot trading of low carbon aluminium. While not a new concept for the exchange, it would serve two important purposes. First, it would provide more transparent, digitalized data on the specification of its aluminium brands and determine whether people are actually paying more for low carbon metal. Second, it would pro...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices fell on Monday June 29 due to a weak demand outlook, reflecting heavy rainfall in several parts of China and fresh pollution control restrictions imposed on mills in Tangshan for the month of July. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $99.85 per tonne, down $3.49 per tonne. 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $102.45 per tonne, down $4.04 per to...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange consolidated higher during morning trading on Monday June 29, although it remained firmly below the $6,000 per tonne threshold. Copper's outright price on the LME was recently at $5,956.50 per tonne, up from a morning low of $5,924 per tonne, but firmly below the $6,000 per tonne threshold, despite spiking above the resistance level on Frid...Read More
Asian-Pacific equities and pre-market European equity index futures were weaker this morning, Monday June 29, but base metals prices were for the most part firmer. Nikkei led on the downside this morning with losses of 2.21%.Covid-19 surges in some southern US states, with 2.5 million confirmed cases reported in the country.Profits in China's industrial sector showed growth of 6% year on year in M...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Poised for a technical breakoutFears over a second wave of Covid-19 continue to grow, forcing prices of aluminium and the other base metals to take a pause. Our base-case scenario is that countries will respond more efficiently to contain the virus spread, so economic activity and metal demand should continue to r...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Demand outlook revisedWe are not surprised to see aluminium prices retreat from last week's high after flagging up in recent reports that they had become overbought. 'Sell-the-rally' traders will be targeting the April high now, down at $1,534 per tonne. This week we have reviewed our aluminium demand forecasts fo...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Short-term upside targets achievedLME aluminium's price recovery to $1,600 per tonne has been driven by macro forces acting on all metals, and amplified for aluminium by technical factors after prices became so oversold at the double-bottom lows in April and May. With a 4-million-tonne supply surplus this year, al...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Consolidation needed after technical gainsDespite structural oversupply, the London Metal Exchange aluminium price has enjoyed a technical rebound since the mid-May lows, which was in line with our short-term forecasts. But technical indicators now look overbought and the price must consolidate its recent gai...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Depending on which market one looks at, prices of coated steels have either risen, fallen or remained roughly the same since mid-May. One crucial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that has swept the world this year is the decoupling it appears to have created between global steel markets.In China, prices of most steel products...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US prices continue to hold Seamless oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and line pipe prices remained unchanged for the third straight month in June, and we expect them to remain stable through the summer before edging higher on the back of a measured rise in drilling rates.The lack of price movement in recent months does not i...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:?EUR?On the back of US steelmakers' $50- to $60-per-ton price hikes in late April, domestic hot-rolled coil prices improved to a monthly average of $493 per ton in May, up from $488 per ton in April. In contrast, both cold-rolled coil and hot-dipped galvanized sheet p...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.As we anticipated, rebar prices in Eastern China (ex-warehouse basis) rose in May, coming within 0.6% of our forecast. Strong demand at home meant that Chinese producers were largely absent from the export market, maintaining their offers near $450 per tonne, while import prices into Singapore were set near $400 per tonne cf...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The Covid-19 pandemic and the associated impacts on steel production, mining and manufacturing activity, end-use consumption, and trade and transportation continue to dominate ferro-alloy markets. US steel mills are operating at around 50% of capacity, with similarly low operating rates evident in Europe as well. Chinese ste...Read More
Ferro-alloys prices have generally retreated over the past month, with demand concerns gaining in prominence.The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Ferro-alloy pricing trends have generally diverged ove the past month, depending on the security of the supply-side position of the market. With most supply concerns fading with the resumption of industrial activity i...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:While the ferro-alloy industry's initial response to the Covid-19 outbreak was marked by rising prices primarily in response to supply-side concerns, focus has now shifted somewhat. As Chinese activity slowly returns to more normal levels, for alloys with a strong Chinese prod...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The recent announcement about Vale's resumption of operations in Brazil, along with new concerns about a slump in demand because of heavy rainfall in China, has resulted in the end of the iron ore price rally. There has also been pressure from tight steel spreads, with the operating margins for Chinese steel mills shrinking...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore prices climbed further last week and we expect the elevated levels to remain into the next month. In particular, further upside will come from blast furnace (BF) capacity, which was reduced in Europe, Japan and the United States and has now come back online after restrictions started to be removed. With Covid-19 spr...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore prices have shot up as market participants have judged the supply risks from Covid-19 higher at this point in time when there is already a tight seaborne market. Despite the efforts to ramp up, Vale is struggling to catch up with its pre-dam disaster export volumes and its slow recovery has only been hit further by...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron oreSentiment in the iron ore market continues to be dominated by concerns about supply disruptions in Brazil. Prices spiked above $100 per tonne after reports that there had been a recent surge of Covid-19 cases at Vale's three mines in Itabira. A...Read More