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.Bulk ferro-alloy prices have shown impressive gains again this month, with ferro-silicon, silicon metal and manganese alloy prices all making significant increases. Noble alloy markets also enjoyed upward momentum, with both vanadium and molybdenum prices rising sharply.Recovering demand from steelmakers globally, together w...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR? Impressive advances in ore and alloy prices persisted in March, with most markets posting significant price gains. Strengthening demand from steelmakers along with supply shortages and depleted inventories in numerous markets, as well as freight and transportation...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
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.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.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 from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices and margins for stainless steel producers have risen notably over the past few months in both Europe and the United States, but there are now signs that the rally is petering out.A clear reason for the halt to rising prices comes from the near 20% drop in nickel prices seen in late February/early March,...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.With nickel prices down by almost 20% over the space of around ten days during late February and early March, one might have been expecting us to be reporting sharply-lower prices of stainless steel, at least for the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel.This is not the case, at least in Europe and the Unite...Read More
A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday September 15.Please click...Read More
Fastmarkets has corrected the pricing rationale for MB-CO-0005 cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $ per lb, which was published incorrectly on Wednesday September 15 due to reporter errors.The range of offers was entered incorrectly for publication in the rationale as $24.30-24.80 per lb, and has been corrected to $24.60-24.80 per lb.One bid at $24.30 was discarded from the assessment due to...Read More
London Metal Exchange prices bounced back on September 15, with lead the only metal under selling pressure. Aluminium had an intraday high of $2,924 per tonne. This is its highest price since it touched $3,000 per tonne on Monday prior to the sell-off on Monday afternoon. Its closing price was lower, at $2,893 per tonne, but still 2.2% higher than Tuesday's closing price. Similarly, nickel's...Read More
Accurate reporting of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of metals and mining companies is becoming critical in securing investment, financing and offtake agreements, according to blockchain technology platform MineHub.Metals and mining companies are under enormous pressure to improve their ESG credentials, and need to produce specific data to show that they are meeting the...Read More
Shanghai copper premiums rose in the week to Tuesday September 14 with the market becoming quieter ahead of a national holiday in China, while in the United States copper cathodes continued to trade at multi-year high prices.Chinese electro-refined (ER) cathode import premiums hit peak of $85-95 per tonne before decliningUS market continues to be strongShanghai premiums rise ahead of holidayChina'...Read More
Nickel premiums were steady globally, with bullish sentiment supporting premiums at their current levels, sources told Fastmarkets.Tight supply in China supports nickel premiums despite closed arbitrage windowUS nickel premiums hold steady, shrugging off backwardationEuropean premiums flat with stock outflows continuingChina's nickel cif premiums stable amid closed arbitrage windowNickel cif premi...Read More
Lack of spot availability in the zinc market persisted in Northern Europe, where premiums rose to a new six-year high in the week ended September 15, while logistics issues led to an increase in United States zinc premiums as well. New highs for the LME three-month zinc price did not deter demand in Northern Europe. In Asia, however, the hike in prices kept buyers away from the spot market.&n...Read More
Lead fell to its lowest level since late June during morning trading on the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday September 15, while the rest of the complex bounced back from two days of declines.Three-month lead lost 2% to $2,226.50 per tonne at 9am, from its Tuesday closing price of $2,276.50 per tonne.The contract fell as low as $2,213 per tonne during early trading, its lowest since June 29, ami...Read More