China's power-cut policy has caused disruption in the battery raw materials supply chain and has brought uncertainty to the price of materials like nickel and cobalt, sources told Fastmarkets.The country started introducing power-consumption limits in some provinces in July 2021 due to power shortages following its carbon-reduction policy, and the curbs have been extended into more provinces and h...Read More
An overview of the consumer electronics markets and their latest price moves in the week to Wednesday September 29.Janie Davies in London;...Read More
Boliden has opened a new leaching plant that will extract metal from residual material at its R??nnsk??r copper smelter in Sweden,the company said on Tuesday September 28."Our aim is to extract as much metal as possible from our raw materials while ensuring the best achievable environmental and climate performance," Boliden Smelters president Daniel Peltonen said in a...Read More
Aqua Metals is working to apply its lead recycling technology to the recycling of lithium-ion batteries and has established a research and development center in the United States for this purpose, the company said.According to Aqua Metals, which has developed technology for plating ultra-high purity lead, early-phase testing has shown it could apply its AquaRefining methodology to plating metals f...Read More
Nickel was almost at a four-month low, while all prices on the London Metal Exchange declined on Wednesday September 29, pushed down by the continued uncertainty over demand given high energy prices and a US Dollar Index that was at its highest since November 2020.The US Dollar Index reached 94.28 on Wednesday, a near-one-year high and a 1.9% increase from 92.50 at the start of September. The...Read More
The US nickel briquette price hit a new all-time high; premiums in Asia and Europe remain unchanged. China premiums stable ahead of Chinese National Holidays US briquette hits new all-time high amid extreme shortage European premiums remain flat Shanghai premiums stable ahead of holidays The premiums on nickel cathodes imported into China remained stable in the week to Tuesday September 28,...Read More
Nexa Resources has halted mining operations at the San Gerardo open-pit zinc-lead mine at its Atacocha project in Peru, after protesters began "illegally blocking public roads" in the Pasco region of the country, the company said this week. The company said that, despite the blockade in and around the mine by the local Joraoniyoc community, there had not been a material impact on production a...Read More
Plusmining and Simon Hunt Strategic Services (SHSS) are entering into a collaborative agreement to exchange ideas relating to the metals and mining industry to jointly undertake general and client-specific studies, the consultancy companies said in a joint statement. The new copper-focused advisory service firm, G&H Metals & Mining Consultancy, will combine Plusmining's focus on the mining sector...Read More
Japan's August production and sales of Toyota's new vehicles, including those of its subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino Motors, fell on a monthly basis amid the severe shortage of semiconductor chips and raw materials, which have disrupted supply chains this year.Toyota's Japan August production of new vehicles fell by 39.3% and 11.4% on a monthly and yearly basis respectively, to 244,342 vehicles. To...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States consolidated around the $98-per-hundredweight ($1,960-per-short-ton) level on Wednesday September 29, though opinions diverged on whether the current pricing level can hold in the coming months.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $97.92 per cwt ($1,958.40 per short ton) on Wednesday, a decrease of 0.11% from $98....Read More
Steel rebar prices in Southern Europe continued to slide during the week to Wednesday September 29 amid slow buying activity, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' assessment of steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Southern Europe was ?,?725-740 ($841-865) per tonne on Wednesday, down by ?,?5-30 per tonne from ?,?730-770 per tonne last week.ItalyRebar demand in Italy has been weak du...Read More
The export billet price from the Commonwealth of Independent States strengthened on Wednesday September 29 with a fresh Black Sea cargo reported sold to China.A 40,000-tonne lot of Ukraine-origin billet was sold to China at $705 per tonne cfr on Wednesday, a source on the seller side told Fastmarkets. Market participants estimate that the price nets back to $600-605 per tonne fob Black Sea, consid...Read More
The price of steel hollow sections in Europe softened in the week to Wednesday September 29, ahead of the renewal of European Union import quotas, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium) domestic, delivered Northern Europe was ?,?1,300-1,330 ($1,519-1,554)per tonne on Wednesday September 29, down from ?,?1,350-1,400 per tonne on Wednesday September 2...Read More
Turkish mills are actively seeking United States-origin scrap and expect to negotiate their next US deep-sea cargoes at prices comparable to or higher than the last-reported sales, sources said on Wednesday September 29.Tight shredded and bonus-grade scrap supply is staving off further export market downside and shoring up heavy melt prices, with buyers willing to pay more to secure units of grade...Read More
The stainless steel scrap market in the United States is largely at a standstill for now while the London Metal Exchange cash nickel price continues to lose ground, having retreated to the mid-$8-per-lb range."LME nickel is significantly off its recent highs [of] over $9 per lb, and if demand weren't still strong I think scrap prices would be even lower," one scrap dealer source said, noting...Read More
Turkish steel mills stepped away from the deep-sea scrap import market after booking a number of cargoes earlier in the week, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday September 29.Steelmakers booked at least three deep-sea cargoes earlier this week. A steel mill paid $426 per tonne cfr for Europe-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20), while another steel mill paid $434 per tonne for the same material from Venezuela...Read More
Prices in the Indian import steel scrap market have dropped in recent days amid continued weak demand in the country, while power shortages are constraining Chinese scrap demand, market sources told Fastmarkets.Weak demand in India continues to pressure pricesChina's restrictions on power usage depress buying interests furtherTaiwan secures containerized scrap cargoes at $465 per tonne cfrIndiaPri...Read More
ArcelorMittal Belgium will build a 2.5 million-tonne-per-year direct reduced iron (DRI) plant and two electric furnaces (EAFs) at its Ghent site that will drive down its carbon emissions, it said.The steelmaker has signed a letter of intent with the governments of Belgium and Flanders, supporting the ?,?1.1 billion ($1.16 billion) project, it said on Tuesday September 28.This will reduce CO2 emiss...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices declined on Wednesday September 29 amid thin trading; premium hard coking coal prices in both the cfr and fob markets are relatively high, which depressed buying interest in the spot market, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $592.89 tonne, down $4.17 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $534.86 per tonne, down $3.79...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices moved up slightly on Wednesday September 29 amid restocking activity by steel mills at Chinese ports, but liquidity thinned ahead of the week-long national holidays, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $114.13 per tonne, up $2.07 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $115.02 per tonne, up $1.57 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade prem...Read More