The sharp decline in emerging market currencies combined with a collapse in oil prices are providing a twin saving grace for many metals and mining companies during the Covid-19 pandemic. For producers of energy-intensive metals like aluminium, and in particular the low-cost ones, the benefit is even greater. It's an emerging trend that is starting to be reflected in the earnings of corporates in...Read More
The Covid-19 pandemic may well provide Freeport-McMoRan with a silver lining it had never expected. The US copper producer is discussing with the government of Indonesia what should be done with the planned smelter in the Gresik region in the province of East Java. It has been forced to delay the completion timeline of December 2023 for the plant, due both to Covid-19-related disruptions to the wo...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: 'Sell the rally' mentality here to stayAlthough the London Metal Exchange aluminium price has managed to recover modestly from recent lows, we suspect this is mostly short-covering. The lack of producer restraint, growing exchange inventories, a weak demand outlook and the 7 million tonnes of oversupply forecast f...Read More
Global markets are contracting in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the prices for flat steel products continue to retreat, with prices for coated steels down by a further 5% since late March in most of the markets that Fastmarkets tracks.The latest edition of Fastmarkets' Galvanized Steel and Tinplate Market Tracker, for April 2020, is now available to view.Further price falls are almost cer...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.The first quarter continued the trend of 2019 - for China to actively import relatively cheap metallics and semi-finished steel - but can this be sustained? The answer to this question will come down to the price competitiveness of the products, we believe. One additional incentive to continue to import metallics this year -...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The recent decline in Chinese scrap prices - to their lowest in a couple of years - even as demand rises, suggests that Chinese scrap supply is increasingly sufficient. In terms of scrap demand, the question is more about price attractiveness. Mini-mills were reducing demand in February, largely because steel margins on scra...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices have fared relatively well over the past couple of months in the face of the threat from the Covid-19 pandemic.In grade-304 material, the most common grade of stainless steel, prices were down by about 5-7% since the turn of the year - not bad, when compared with the falls in prices of other assets so f...Read More
Chile saw a 4.5% year-on-year increase in copper production during March despite some difficulties faced by the industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Chilean copper commission Cochilco said on Thursday May 7.The country produced 494,700 tonnes of copper content in March compared with 473,300 tonnes in the corresponding month of 2019. Most of the major local mines increased output during the afore...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
With the exception of that for zinc and nickel, deliverable base metals stocks at Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses all fell in the week ended Friday May 8.Copper registered the largest decline in inventories in percentage terms, with total SHFE stocks declining to 204,219 tonnes on Friday; this marks a decrease of 26,737 tonnes (11.6%) from the 230,956 tonnes recorded on April 30. ...Read More
Chile saw a 4.5% year-on-year increase in copper production during March despite some difficulties faced by the industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Chilean copper commission Cochilco said on Thursday May 7.The country produced 494,700 tonnes of copper content in March compared with 473,300 tonnes in the corresponding month of 2019. Most of the major local mines increased output during the afore...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
An overview of the Chinese minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
Import prices for containerized scrap in Bangladesh continued to drop over the past week, while most major mills stayed out of the market for bulk cargoes amid high stock levels.No transactions for bulk cargoes were heard during the week but containerized scrap from Australia and Brazil changed hands at lower prices than previous weeks."There are mostly container sales of both shredded and [heavy...Read More
Demand for imported ferrous scrap remained elevated in South Korea over the past week with domestic prices rising due to the restart of some key industries, market sources told Fastmarkets on Friday May 8.After a sharp rise in South Korean Covid-19 cases during February and March, new infections have slowed to just a handful over recent days. On Wednesday, the government allowed offices, libraries...Read More
Prices fluctuations for heavy melting scrap (HMS) imports in Taiwan have caused an unclear price outlook in the near term.Market participants from major supplier Japan had just returned from a holiday on Thursday May 7 and buyers were waiting for clearer price trends for Japanese cargoes."Taiwan had increased the purchases for Japanese materials in the past few weeks because of limited supply from...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
China's lithium market was quiet in the week to Thursday May 7 with buyers largely absent due to the country's Labor Day holiday (May 1-5). Other global lithium markets experienced a similar lack of spot activity, which kept prices in place.Chinese battery-grade lithium carbonate price widens downward. China's industrial-grade lithium carbonate price unchanged.Chinese lithium hydroxide market flat...Read More
Import prices for flat-rolled steel into South America were steady to slightly higher during the past week, with market participants already reporting a slight recovery for some materials despite the bulk of negotiations for July shipment having yet to take place.Peru and Ecuador were still under a quarantine period aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19, but were gradually expected...Read More