Base metal prices on the morning of Tuesday September 21 stuck near the levels seen at the sell-off on Monday, triggered by continued uncertainty over the fate of Chinese property developer Evergrande.Copper's three-month price was at $9,053 per tonne, for example, a small rise from its closing price of $9,033 per tonne on Monday, a 3% drop from last Friday's 5pm price. The red metal dropped to $8...Read More
Base metals prices have generally been under pressure in recent days while broad-based risk-off has weighed on the market, but the metals were looking more mixed on the morning of Tuesday September 21, suggesting consolidation after Monday's average loss of 1.6% across the London Metal Exchange base metals. The risk-off sentiment seems to be tied in with concerns about whether Chinese property gia...Read More
Flat steel sales from Brazilian distributors declined by 26.60% year on year in August, with the market normalizing from supply constrains seen earlier in the year, according to national steel distributors' association Inda.Brazilian distributors sold 274,500 tonnes of flat steel last month, down from 373,800 tonnes in August 2020, according to the figures released on Tuesday September 21. The rea...Read More
Flat steel buyers in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia preferred to wait for prices to stop coming down before they placed any new orders, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday September 21.Most imported flat steel prices to the two countries have decreased during the past week, because of lower offer prices. End-user demand remained weak because of the lack of big new projects, sources adde...Read More
After a one-month consultation period, Fastmarkets will amend the timing specifications for its assessment of the China import steel billet price from Tuesday September 28.The frequency of the assessments, which are currently weekly, will move to a twice-weekly basis after the next assessment date on Friday September 24.The change would have been due to take place on Tuesday September 21, as per t...Read More
The market for steel rebar and billet in the United Arab Emirates was silent in the week to September 21 because buyers were waiting for new local rebar prices to be announced, sources told Fastmarkets.Most market participants expect prices to follow the global downtrend.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $700-710 per tonne on Sep...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in northern Europe and Italy declined on Tuesday September 21 due to low trading activity, sources told Fastmarkets.Spot buyers have been holding back from making new orders because they have sufficient stocks and they expect domestic prices to move down further. Negative sentiment has been supported by reduced demand from the automotive segment. Car manufacture...Read More
CIS wire rod export prices had an up-and-down week in the seven days to Monday 20 September, particularly in Russia, where mill offer prices went in different directions, sources told Fastmarkets.Russia's Abinsk Electric Steel Works continued to drop its offer prices to attract customers and outflank competitive offers from Turkey.The most recent offers from the mill were heard at $767-772 per ton...Read More
Activity in the Asian import markets for steel billet has been stifled over the past few days amid continued weak demand in the Philippines market and China's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday September 21.Offers from traders for 125mm 5sp-grade billet, made of steel from electric-arc furnaces (EAFs) and originating from Russia's Far East province, were heard at $700...Read More
Turkish steel mills continued to ignore the deep-sea scrap market on Tuesday September 21, with no transactions heard so far this week, market participants told Fastmarkets.While mills have not yet booked any new transactions so far this week, another transaction emerged from last week, which sources said was a top-up shipment for a cargo booked two...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices in the fob market on Tuesday September 21 continued to climb from the previous day amid firm demand, market sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $565.77 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $491.97 per tonne, unchangedPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $399.29 per tonne, up by $13.18 per tonne ...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices were largely flat on Tuesday September 21 with limited trading activity in the physical market taking place amid a Chinese holiday. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.03 per tonne, up $0.05 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.96 per tonne, down $0.11 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $64.87 per tonne, up $0.14 p...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
The Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lbtrade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt...Read More
The Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam,...Read More
Tantalum concentrate prices fell in the week to Friday September 17, due to reduced prompt demand, which has triggered intense competition among suppliers to secure sales, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for tantalite, basis 25% min Ta2O5, cif China was $83-88 per lb. per lb on Friday, down by 5% from a week earlier, when the price stood at $88-92 per lb.The price has b...Read More
Standard-grade cobalt metal was trading at a premium over alloy-grade for the first time since March on Monday September 20 amid spot demand in Europe for tightening briquette and broken cathode supply.Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam was $24.60-25.00 per lb on Monday, up from $24.45-25.00 per lb on the previous Friday.This marks the first time t...Read More
The European charge and high-carbon ferro-chrome benchmark for the fourth quarter of 2021 has leapt to $1.80 per lb Cr, a jump of 24 cents per lb (15.38%) from the second and third quarters.The settlement is announced every quarter by Merafe Resources, which operates a chrome joint venture with trader-miner Glencore in South Africa.The benchmark is a forward-looking price for the coming quarter. I...Read More
Base metals prices on the LME were mainly rebounding on Wednesday September 22, after dip buyers took advantage of Tuesday's price weakness, while metals in Shanghai were mixed but mainly down in response to the downturn in London this week.Risk-off sentiment eased slightly as Chinese property giant Evergrande said it would pay some of the interest on its bonds, due Thursday, but the market is als...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 24 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures were relatively quiet prior to release of the Federal Reserve's statement on the Fed Fund rate at 2:00 PM EDT. Consensus is that the Federal Reserve will maintain its current fixed income purchase program without tapering. FedEx dropped $7.89 to $244.50 after the company re...Read More