The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange lost ground at the close of trading on Thursday April 30, closing at its lowest level in more than a week against thin turnover, while selling pressure pushed copper futures below nearby support levels.Nickel's outright price on the LME closed at $12,192 per tonne on Thursday afternoon, falling from an intraday high of $12,355 per tonne. Tu...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Oversupply to persist in North America as demand slumpsPrices for welded oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and linepipe weakened further in April nearing historical lows, and there may be room for further pipe price retreat through the second quarter. Supply of ERW OCTG and line pipe is expected to continue to outpace demand f...Read More
Copper production will be reduced by 73,300 tonnes in Chile this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the country's minister of mining, Baldo Prokurica, said in a television interview on Thursday April 29."We are one of the less hit countries in comparison with other copper producers," Prokurica told Emol TV. "We have been hearing 25-30% production cuts [around the world], which hopefully will prese...Read More
Deliverable stocks of base metals in Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses all declined in the week ended Thursday April 30, with those for copper decreasing the most in percentage terms. SHFE copper stocks totaled 230,956 tonnes on April 30, declining by 28,081 tonnes or 10.8% from 259,037 tonnes on April 24 amid continued supply disruptions and a recovery in demand. This week, the...Read More
Key pricing data from the pricing session for Fastmarkets' alumina index, fob Australia on Thursday April 30. Fastmarkets' daily alumina index, fob Australia moved up to $241.37 per tonne on Thursday from $233.93 per tonne the previous day. The index is now at its highest since April 1 when it was at $241.52 per tonne. Key drivers: Three new deals concluded Thursday, with two destined f...Read More
A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday April 29. Please click...Read More
KAZ Minerals has delayed the start of production at its $1.2 billion Aktogay copper expansion project in Kazakhstan to late 2021, citing the impacts to its supply chain of the Covid-19 pandemic. The company has also cut its capital expenditure for the project this year to $300-350 million from $400 million previously forecast. KAZ Minerals had spent $663 million on the project by the end of 2019,...Read More
Domestic steel beam prices in the United States slipped in April on weaker demand and price reductions by mills, while import prices edged slightly higher in the face of collapsing demand due to foreign mills resisting price cuts. Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for steel beams 8 x 8-inch, fob mill US fell to $35.25 per hundredweight ($705 per short ton) on Thursday April 30, down by $1.25 (...Read More
A free-falling domestic flat-rolled steel market has sent more pressure to the foreign mills that are shipping their steel products to the docks in the United States, resulting in further declines on prices of most imported flat steel products.US hot-rolled coil prices crashed below $23 per hundredweight ($460 per short ton) this week despite an expected increase in ferrous scrap prices in May.&nb...Read More
Latin American steel group Ternium expects the Mexican automotive industry to "gradually" restart operations in May, chief executive officer M??ximo Vedoya said on Wednesday April 29.Automakers in Mexico have stopped operations since late March because of the spread of Covid-19. "The automotive industry's value chain in US and Mexico is highly integrated and it demands synchronized production in b...Read More
A summary of the financial results for Turkey's largest steelmaking group, Erdemir, for January-March 2020.In briefEarnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda)1,068,037,000 Turkish lira ($153.07 million*), down by 38.36% from 1,732,790,000 lira in January-March 2019.Q1 2020 production, salesCrude steel production2.232 million...Read More
Indian steel mills are unlikely to cut domestic hot rolled coil prices for sales in May, private mill sources in the country told Fastmarkets this week."We are likely to continue with current prices for the next month,," an official from a private sector mill said, "[because] any reduction in prices will [lead to] a big loss to our dealers and distributors."Fastmarkets' price assessment...Read More
The Russian Steel Association has called for equal access to the country's railway infrastructure so that its members can export goods to eastern destinations, according to a local news report published earlier this week.Russian Steel unites the country's largest mining and steel companies.It filed an appeal to Russia's first deputy prime minister, Andrei Belousov, asking him to ensure that there...Read More
Latin American steel group Ternium expects to delay the start-up of some projects in order to preserve cash during the Covid-19 pandemic.The company will delay start-up of a hot-rolling mill in Pesquer?-a, a northeastern Mexican city near Monterrey, Mexico, to April 2021.The company previously planned a fourth-quarter 2020 launch of the new hot-rolling mill, which is designed to hav...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea scrap import market was almost silent again on Thursday April 30, with mills expecting even lower prices, sources told Fastmarkets.Overall demand for deep-sea scrap remains poor because of lower steel output and weak demand for finished steel, due to the measures put in place to curb the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak.At least six steelmakers have halted produc...Read More
Prices in the seaborne iron ore market continued to gain ground on Thursday April 30, in line with higher futures curves for steel rebar, but trading activity in the seaborne and Chinese portside markets slowed down before China's Labor Day holiday on May 1.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $84.04 per tonne, up by $1.54 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $86.70 p...Read More
Buying activity for ferrous scrap cargoes imported into South Korea has increased over the past week, with steelmakers looking to acquire Japanese material, market sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 30.South Korean scrap demand has not held up over recent months. The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic across the country has seriously reduced high-grade steel demand and even led to major produ...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices dropped slightly day on day on Thursday April 30, one day before the five-day Chinese Labor Day holiday, Fastmarkets heard.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $107.12 per tonne, down $0.18 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $117.33 per tonne, down $1.17 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $93.26 per tonne, down $1.75 per tonneHard coki...Read More
Prices for ferrous scrap imports into Bangladesh declined over the past week with buying activity held back by high stocks of material as well as the start of the Islamic celebration of Ramadan, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 30.Prices in the Bangladesh market had been strong since the start of April, with higher offer prices from the US West Coast due to the low supply of material, to...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices edged up on Thursday April 30, with sentiment lifted by news that the country's manufacturing activity continued to grow in April.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,270-3,300 yuan ($462-466) per tonne, widening upward by 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,240-3,250 yuan per tonne, widening upward by 10 yuan per tonneA Shanghai-based trader said p...Read More