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
The opposing forces taking hold of prices in the iron ore and coking coal markets could spill over in the first quarter of 2022 due to their differing fundamentals and Chinese policy, according to market sources.Depressed iron ore vs bullish coking coalIron ore prices have been falling since early July due to cues from the Chinese government that crude steel production in 2021 should not exceed th...Read More
Domestic hot-rolled coil prices in China gained more upward momentum on Wednesday September 29, with sentiment supported by reduced production as a result of power cuts and a rush to meet energy consumption targets.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,730-5,780 yuan ($886-894) per tonne, up by 10-30 yuan per tonneHRC futures were more subdued during the day compared with the first two days of the w...Read More
Base metals prices edged down in morning trading on Wednesday September 29, with weakness in across the complex supported by the rising US Dollar Index, which pushed up to its highest level since November 2020."Copper and most of the other metals [prices fell] on Wednesday, with Asian equities suffering from a global stock sell off," Marex LME desk analyst Anna Stablum said."Wall Street [had its]...Read More
Rebar prices in Shanghai increased on Wednesday September 29 on restocking ahead of the National Day holidays, but demand is expected to drop in areas in north, east and central China on plans to start dust inspections at construction sites from October 1 to March 31, 2022.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,830-5,870 yuan ($902-908) per tonne, up by 40 yuan per tonneThe Ministry of Ecology and En...Read More
Base metals prices were mixed on the morning of Wednesday September 29 while they consolidated against a backdrop of numerous headwinds. Uncertainty has picked up regarding how high US treasury yields and the dollar will go and what will the fallout be if China's Evergrande starts defaulting on foreign-owned debt. China's power rationing set to hit metal production and manufacturing, and in turn s...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Janie Davies, Jon Stibbs...Read More
Spain-based ferro-alloys producer Ferroglobe has temporarily shut another furnace in the country due to expensive energy prices, according to reports and trade sources on Tuesday September 28.The company, which recently shut a silicon furnace at its Sab??n plant in Spain, has also idled a silico-manganese furnace at its Boo plant in Santander, on the northern coast of the country. Officials a...Read More