Brazil's Usiminas is halting its No2 blast furnace at Ipatinga for another 90-150 days after an incident on Friday, the flat steel producer said on Monday September 27.The 660,000-tonnes-per-year furnace was only restarted in June after nearly 14 months out of action during the Covid-19 pandemic.Usiminas did not provide any further details of the incident, but confirmed that, depending on the natu...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 37 points in pre-opening trade. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell and Treasury Secretary Yellen are scheduled to give testimony before the Senate Banking Committee this morning. Agnico-Eagle and Kirkland Lake Gold have agreed to share exchange as a "merger of equals". Each Kirkland Lake Gold shares are to be exchanged f...Read More
Export rebar and wire rod prices from the Commonwealth of Independent States continued to slide at the end of September amid a lack of trading and competition with Turkish suppliers, sources told Fastmarkets.Rebar offers, which were coming mainly from Ukraine, were varying within the range of $690-710 per tonne fob Black Sea in the week to Monday September 27, against $710-720 per tonne fob a week...Read More
Rebar import prices in Singapore fell in the past week amid a surge in Covid-19 infections and volatile iron ore prices.Rebar offers from Turkey were made at $730-735 per tonne cfr Singapore during the week. Other Middle Eastern mills offered cargoes at $750-760 per tonne cfr Singapore."Rebar producers are not willing to sell below $730 per tonne cfr Singapore too much because the price spread [be...Read More
China's National Food & Strategic Reserves Administration will sell 30,000 tonnes of copper, 70,000 tonnes of aluminium and 50,000 tonnes of zinc in a fourth batch of sales to fabricators.These materials will be sold via a public auction on October 9, according to a notice from the administration published...Read More
Tin's futures contract fell by 3.9% on Monday September 27, and most other London Metal Exchange prices were also lower on the day, with somewhat bearish sentiment still holding in the complex.Tin's three-month price was at $35,100 per tonne on Monday at 5pm in London, decreasing from $36,539 per tonne at the same time on Friday.Amid concerns surrounding the supply of the metal given ongoing...Read More
Spot zinc concentrate processing charges fell in the second half of September, with Chinese smelters stocking up for winter production and power curbs expected to limit smelting operations until early October.Fastmarkets assessed the zinc spot concentrate treatment charge, cif China at $75-88 per tonne on Friday September 24, narrowing downward by $4 from $75-92 per tonne two weeks prior. Prime br...Read More
Fastmarkets proposes changes to the name and specifications of its UG2 chrome ore price index.Fastmarkets proposes to change the specification for its chrome ore South Africa UG2 concentrates index basis 42%, cif China to include MG material and to amend some qualities, including to clarify a base chrome iron ratio and to implement a normalization process to meet this base level. Fastmarkets...Read More
European long steel makers who produce via electric-arc furnaces (EAF) have expressed growing concerns over rising energy costs, which could worsen ahead of higher demand in the winter, sources told Fastmarkets.One EAF mill source in Southern Europe said that on average, energy accounts for 15% of steel production costs."The latest energy price rises will add about ?,?40-50 ($46.8-58.6) per tonne...Read More
Brazil's Usiminas is halting its No2 blast furnace at Ipatinga for another 90-150 days after an incident on Friday, the flat steel producer said on Monday September 27.The 660,000-tonnes-per-year furnace was only restarted in June after nearly 14 months out of action during the Covid-19 pandemic.Usiminas did not provide any further details of the incident, but confirmed that, depending on the natu...Read More
Base metal prices were lower during morning trading on the London Metal Exchange on Monday September 27, with tin falling the most in percentage terms from Friday's record high of $36,830 per tonne.Tin's three-month price was at $35,360 per tonne at 9am, after recording a new all-time high on Friday amid concerns about Chinese supply due to power restrictions imposed in producing regions such as Y...Read More
Base metals prices were mainly lower across both the London Metal Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange on Tuesday September 28, the exception was LME copper.* Oil prices extend gains; spot Brent crude approaching $80 per barrel.* US 10-year treasuries yields push through 1.5%.Base metalsThe three-month copper price on the LME was up by 0.3% at $9,376.50 per tonne and seemed buoyant this morn...Read More
Seaborne coking coal cfr prices decreased on Monday September 27 due to market participants' expectations of lower demand in the coming months.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $594.56 per tonne, down $6.26 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $529.82 per tonne, down $45.41 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $406.07 per tonne, up $0.08 per tonneHard coking co...Read More
Tin's futures contract fell by 3.9% on Monday September 27, and most other London Metal Exchange prices were also lower on the day, with somewhat bearish sentiment still holding in the complex.Tin's three-month price was at $35,100 per tonne on Monday at 5pm in London, decreasing from $36,539 per tonne at the same time on Friday.Amid concerns surrounding the supply of the metal given ongoing...Read More
Export slab prices from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region continued to fall toward the end of September. Mills had to make significant concessions to conclude deals in major export outlets due to the continuous weakening of finished flat-steel prices there.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe was ?,?880-900 ($1,031-1,055) per ton...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday September 27 that are worth another look.Brazil's Usiminas is halting its No2 blast furnace at Ipatinga for another 90-150 days after an incident on Friday, the flat steel producer said on Monday September 27.For aluminium market participants...Read More
The price rally in European ferro-silicon, which has lasted through the year, is showing no sign of stopping and consumers in the steel sector are likely to demand more alloy material before prices hit even higher record peaks, sources told Fastmarkets.European prices jumped by more than 5% to a peak of ?,?2,500 ($2,930) per tonne delivered in the week to September 24, with reported deals and offe...Read More
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the publication timing of its ferro-chrome benchmark indicator and its ferro-chrome cif China price.For its ferro-chrome lumpy Cr benchmark indicator, charge basis 52% (and high carbon), Europe and ferro-chrome 50% Cr import, cif main Chinese ports price assessment, Fastmarkets proposes changing the publication time.The proposed specifications would be (proposed...Read More
For aluminium market participants globally, the global energy shortage is one of the many shortages producers of the light metal are facing.Market participants say the energy crunch, caused by a lack of incentive to produce additional supply when energy prices hit lows in 2020, will particularly be felt by producers who have large exposures to the spot energy markets, although many say that most s...Read More
China imported 40,540 tonnes of ferrous scrap in August, a 53.13% decrease from July, according to the latest Chinese customs data.Of the total, 28,722 tonnes - or 70.85% - originated in Japan.South Korea remained China's second-largest scrap supplier in August, accounting for 5,637 tonnes (13.90%) of imports.The United Kingdom (3,260 tonnes; 8.04%) and Hong Kong (694 tonnes; 1.71%) were other sig...Read More