An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe were fairly stable on Friday October 1 because buyers held back from making new deals, sources told Fastmarkets.Buyers have paused purchases because they anticipate that domestic mills will soon accept lower prices. In addition, the stocks of European distributors were sufficient so they felt no pressure to get additional volumes in the short run, sour...Read More
Secondary aluminium alloy prices in the United States have soared due to sharp gains in silicon prices, and tight availability of the metal crucial to alloy production. "It's already having a huge impact on us," one US alloy producer said. Tightness in silicon markets has already led to alloy price spikes in Europe. The price rise is pushing up costs, but could also potentially significa...Read More
Turkish steel mills ended the working week with additional deep-sea cargo deals for November shipments, market participants told Fastmarkets on Friday October 1.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a US cargo comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $443 per tonne and shredded and bonus at $458 per tonne cfr. Although, the cargo composition was not yet confirmed, the seller source said. And a steel mill...Read More
The collapse of the iron ore market and market turbulence over Chinese property developer Evergrande Group are adding to the economic woes caused by the Delta variant of Covid-19 for much of this year.It is hard to find bright sparks in the months ahead for the ferrous supply chain, which has been buffeted repeatedly in a short span of few months, starting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's comment...Read More
Since mid-September, a swathe of provincial governments in China have imposed power cuts and rationing on local industrial users, which could cast a bigger influence on downstream fabricating sectors than previous curbs, sources said.This is the second time that industrial users have received power rationing orders in the year. The first was in July, when hot weather strained the country's grid. P...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves in the week to Friday October 1.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...Read More
Rising demand led to higher ferrous scrap prices for material imported into Turkey in the week to Friday October 1, while prices in most other markets were comparatively lackluster. Turkish mills were increasingly active in the market over the week, leading to an uptick in regional import prices United States sellers were able to sell at higher levels amid an increased appetite for scrap in Turkey...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe were fairly stable on Friday October 1 because buyers held back from making new deals, sources told Fastmarkets.Buyers have paused purchases because they anticipate that domestic mills will soon accept lower prices. In addition, the stocks of European distributors were sufficient so they felt no pressure to get additional volumes in the short run, sour...Read More
Spot interest in copper concentrate has been minimal in the week to Friday September 30, ahead of China's National Day holiday. Clean tonnages for smelter purchase were in the mid-$60s, below the Copper Smelters Purchase Team's fourth quarter pricing floor of $70 per tonne. A community blockade at MMG's Las Bambas complex in Peru, which started two weeks ago, could...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:US prices for hot-rolled coil moved in line with our forecasts in August, averaging $1,910 per ton, within 1% accuracy of our forecast of $1,925 per ton. The market has achieved much-needed stability in recent weeks, with prices fluctuating in the range of $1,900-1,94...Read More
European steel companies must scale up their decarbonization technologies within the coming decade or risk exhausting their allocated emissions allowances early, according to a report released on Tuesday September 14.The report, "Steeling for Net Zero," by climate researcher Industry Tracker, found that selected European steel companies have less than 26% of their carbon budget remaining and must...Read More
Aluminium scrap prices in the United States continued to be underpinned by robust demand domestically and overseas, while futures prices on the London Metal Exchange remained high.Healthy business activity, particularly in the non-automotive side of the sector, pushed up some secondary smelter grades week on week, with the Fastmarkets assessment of 1-1-3 sows edging a penny either side to a range...Read More
Alcoa Corp has announced plans to enter the high-purity alumina (HPA) market with the signing of a binding term sheet between Alcoa of Australia (AoA) and Western Australia-based FYI Resources.In a news release, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Alcoa said it intends to enter the HPA market "to address increasing demand for sustainable products through a joint development project."According to the te...Read More
Demand for low-carbon aluminium units in Europe remains strong, especially for value-added products (VAP), market participants told Fastmarkets on Friday October 1.Fastmarkets assessed the aluminium low-carbon differential value-added product (VAP), Europe at $20-30 per tonne on Friday October 1, up from $15-25 per tonne on September 3.Market participants noted a clear gap between different VAP un...Read More
Due to a technical error, the September monthly averages for the following prices were noted as being for October rather than September.MB-STE-0009 - Steel galvanized coil 1mm export, fob main port China, $/tonneMB-STE-0141 - Steel billet import, cfr Manila, $/tonneMB-STE-0144 - Steel hot-rolled coil index export, fob main port China, $/tonneMB-STE-0145 - Steel cold-rolled coil export, fob China m...Read More
Price for cold-rolled and galvanized steel sheet in the United States held steady after market participants perceived an emerging balance among overall supply, inventory and demand trends for the fourth quarter.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US was unchanged at $110 per hundredweight ($2,200 per short ton) on Thursday September 30. The assessment has risen 185....Read More
Rising demand led to higher ferrous scrap prices for material imported into Turkey in the week to Friday October 1, while prices in most other markets were comparatively lackluster. Turkish mills were increasingly active in the market over the week, leading to an uptick in regional import prices United States sellers were able to sell at higher levels amid an increased appetite for scrap in Turkey...Read More
Base metals prices were down on the morning of Friday October 1, extending the weakness that started to accelerate on Thursday, when the LME base metals closed down by an average of 2.3%, with tin dropping by 6.2%. The weakness was broad based with equities retreating, too. Asia-Pacific equities weaker this morning.Gold and the yen rallied on Thursday, and US treasury yields are weaker this mornin...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices in the fob market eased slightly on Friday October 1 on a cargo that was transacted at a lower-than-expected price, market sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $603.28 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $565.14 per tonne, unchangedPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $391.50 per tonne, down by $8.70 per tonneHard coking...Read More