If any member was going to leave the London Metal Exchange ring trading floor, the exchange was probably hoping it wouldn't be Triland Metals Ltd.The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi, is one of the exchange's longest serving Category 1 members, having joined in 1972 after being founded in the prior year. Having a unit of Japan's largest trading company as a ri...Read More
General Motors will double production in two of its Brazilian plants by introducing a second work shift, despite an ongoing global semiconductor chip shortage, the United States-based company's local branch said on Wednesday September 22.The automaker's unit in S??o Caetano do Sul, a city in Brazil's southeastern S??o Paulo state, will begin a second work shift on September 27. A second unit in Gr...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore remains the most bullish commodity of the year, with prices fuelled by Chinese demand and supply disruptions in Brazil, along with bullish sentiment. But prices are expected to come down because Brazilian exports have begun to recover, and have reached their highest level since the Brumadinho dam disaster in 2019. W...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In the iron ore market, supply issues including heavy rains at the start of the year, followed by staffing problems during the Covid-19 pandemic, have affected exports from Brazil. This has helped Australia gain a larger market share, but since June, Brazilian export volumes have returned to levels last seen before the...Read More
Stainless steel prices continue to register new highs around the end of the first half of 2021 and steelmakers continue to enjoy outsized margins.They have responded in recent months by increasing their output, which has now pushed above pre-pandemic levels and will eventually restore balance to the market.For now, though, supply gaps are still being filled and buyers find themselves competing aga...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Recent weeks have brought two key developments with regard to trade policy on stainless steel products that will be to the detriment of consumers.In China, the country's stainless steelmakers no longer enjoy a 13% export rebate as of May 1, reducing greatly their incentive to export and instead leading them to focus on supply...Read More
The latest forecasts and analysis of the ferrous scrap and iron metallics market from the Fastmarkets research team are ready to be viewed.Stifled automotive output this year, driven by a supply shortage of semiconductor chips used in vehicles, has tightened prime scrap availability and widened the spreads between this grade of steelmaking raw material and obsolete scrap.While wide prime-over-obso...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:Bulk and noble alloys both moved largely in line with our price forecasts globally over the past month, though several markets surprised to the upside, exceeding our forecast gains. Stronger-than-forecast pricing momentum was primarily triggered by supply shortages in numerous...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Fastmarkets analysts were invited to present our outlook for the coking coal market at Coaltrans Asia, held online on November 23-25. One of the key topics at the event was the trade tensions between China and Australia, which overtook Mongolia to become the largest coking coal exporter to China this year...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:?EUR? US sheet prices hit record highs again in May, with upward momentum persisting into June. Actual US hot-rolled coil prices averaged $1,553 per ton in May, largely in line with our forecast of $1,540 per ton. Prices remain supported by strong underlying sup...Read More
Inner Mongolia, China's ferro-chrome production heartland, has imposed restrictions on its metallurgical sector in a move that has fueled the high-carbon ferro-chrome markets in China and Europe, and although this may ease off, the gains were unlikely to be lost while alloy ramp-ups continue, sources have told Fastmarkets.The decision to restrict energy consumption in Inner Mongolia since December...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves in the week to Friday September 24. Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and Sybil...Read More
The processing charge on spot copper concentrates increased in the week to Friday September 24, reflecting the return of smelters to market activity after the traditionally slow summer months.Clean tonnages were sold to Chinese smelters in the low-to-mid $60s per tonne, with interest being shown for material to be available in the first quarter of next year.A new round...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves in the week to Friday September 24. Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and Sybil...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves in the week to Friday September 24. Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and Sybil...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing sessions in Europe, China and the United States on Friday September 24.China The ferro-silicon price in China became very bullish following the news that Fugu, a ferro-silicon production hub in Shaanxi province, issued instructions for broad cuts in the production of ferroalloys, magnesium and semi-coke starting from September 19, to meet the dual control targets...Read More
Limited availability of light-iron scrap in the UK has cemented the market in its current range in the week to Friday September 24, with major processors holding their offer prices to ensure a steady stream of supply into their yards, trade sources said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C loose old light domestic, delivered inter-merchant UK, was ?170-190 ($233-260) per tonneo...Read More
LME zinc's three-month price was just $2 away from setting a new year-to-date high, while aluminium's three-month price was the only one to close lower in the afternoon session on Friday September 24. The intraday high for zinc's futures contract was of $3,138 per tonne, just a couple of dollars short of its previous 2021 high of $3,140 per tonne from September 17. The metal was spurred on by news...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Janie Davies, Cristina Belda,...Read More
Aluminium billet premiums mostly rose on Friday September 24, setting new record highs or being supported at such levels, as more expensive offers for 2022 negotiations advanced.EuropeFastmarkets assessed the aluminium 6063 extrusion billet premium, ddp North Germany (Ruhr region) at $1,350-1,400 per tonne on Friday, up from $1,320-1,370 per tonne a week prior and from $1,220-1,270 per tonne a mon...Read More