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
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday September 20 that are worth another look.Latin American steel association Alacero is concerned about a potential flood of Chinese and Turkish rebar in Colombia if a request to cut or eliminate import duties is granted amid recent increases in local capacity, it said...Read More
The International Aluminium Association (IAI) has released a new decarbonization dataset showing that carbon dioxide emissions from smelting could fall by nearly 90% from 2018 to 2050 if the industry aligns with sustainability targets.In addition, refining emissions could drop by almost half over the same period, it said.The sustainability goals are based on Beyond 2 ?C Scenario (B2DS) targets est...Read More
Base metal futures all closed in the red on Monday after fears over China's property building sector prompted a selloff in global financial markets.At the 5pm close on Monday, London Metal Exchange three-month copper futures were at $9,033 per tonne, down by $279 - or 3% - against Friday's end of market levels. Aluminium dropped the least of the complex, down by 0.77% at $2,863 per tonne.China's s...Read More
The latest data for the global manganese ore market for the week ended September 17, 2021.Read More
Ferro-vanadium prices have been under pressure since August 18, Fastmarkets has heard, with traders taking profit and cutting their offers to encourage sales, which has led some producers to step out of the market.Now, in mid-September, some market participants expect prices to stabilize with more demand from steel mills in Europe, while others remained pessimistic due to current market headwinds...Read More