The United States copper market failed to hold onto previous gains during morning trading on Thursday March 14, with weaker-than-expected Chinese data capping the base metals space.The copper price for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped 4.30 cents to $2.8925 per lb. Data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) at around 10am Shangha...Read More
Turkish billet prices have continued to rise due to improved demand in the export and domestic markets in addition to the latest growth in imported scrap costs, sources said on Thursday March 14.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic billet was $460-470 per tonne ex-works on March 14, up from the $450-460 per tonne of last week.Long steel producer Kardemir opened its local billet sales...Read More
Prices in the local market for Turkish rebar and wire rod have continued to increase, influenced by the weakening of the value of the country's lira and rising costs for imported scrap raw material, sources said on Thursday March 14.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar was TRY3,180-3,215 ($582-589) per tonne ex-works on March 14, including 18% VAT, up from last week's TRY3,100-3...Read More
Turkish rebar and wire rod prices have increased over the past week in line with the latest uptick in the cost of imported scrap, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday March 14.Demand for rebar was still sluggish in the country's export markets, however, although the wire rod market was comparatively better due to demand from the machinery industry.Turkish steel producers were trying to keep their...Read More
Steel billet import prices in Egypt have increased over the past seven days with higher offers being heard, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday March 14.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel billet imported into Egypt was $475-480 per tonne cfr on Thursday, rising from $470-475 per tonne cfr last week.CIS-origin billet was offered to the country at $480 per tonne cfr, but no major bookin...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices were flat amid lower trading activity on Thursday March 14, though bullish sentiment propped up the export market slightly.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,810-3,850 yuan ($568-574) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 3,790-3,830 yuan per tonne, unchangedRebar futures were lower than Wednesday's settlement price of 3,817 yuan per tonne during most of the...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices mixed on Thursday March 14 with those in the eastern region slipping while the northern market held steady. The export market strengthened with deals being concluded at higher prices. DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,830-3,850 yuan ($571-574) per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,760-3,780 yuan per tonne, unchanged Sellers in easter...Read More
JFE Meranti is a newcomer to the coated steel coil sector, and it expects its first years to be challenging while it works to achieve the lion's share of Myanmar's up-and-coming market for coated steel products, chief executive and managing director Sebastian Langendorf has told Fastmarkets.Langendorf was speaking in an exclusive interview at JFE Meranti's Singapore headquarters in the Marina Bay...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials. Latest transactions: iron oreIron oreVale, Global Ore, 170,000 tonnes of 62% Fe Brazilian Blend fines, traded at $89.50 per tonne cfr China, laycan April 10-19.Vale, Beijing Iron Ore Trading Center (Corex), 170,000 tonnes of 65% Fe Iron Ore Carajas, traded at $98...Read More
Iron ore prices jumped on Thursday March 14 amid a positive destocking of steel products in China and signs of loosening restrictions on steelmaking operations.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $87.26 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $2.48 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $86.38 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $2.48 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $89.50 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $2.80...Read More
Forward cargoes of seaborne coking coal continued to fetch lower prices on Thursday March 14, with some buyers in China saying that they would take a wait-and-see approach amid the emergence of what appears to be a downtrend.On the Global Coal trading platform, a June-laycan cargo in the branded segment of premium hard coking coal was traded at $202.40 per tonne fob Australia, lower than the trans...Read More
Import prices for steel billet in Southeast Asia moved up on Thursday March 14, amid an uptick in trading activity and higher scrap values, market participants said.Fastmarkets' daily import price assessment for billet in Southeast Asia was $485-495 per tonne cfr Manila on Thursday, up $5 per tonne from $480-490 per tonne cfr on Wednesday. Numerous deals involving Malaysian billet were concluded i...Read More
Base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange were almost universally trading down during the morning session on Thursday March 14 due to continually weakening data from China."We have Chinese industrial production slowing down and Chinese car sales for February down 14% [while] Chinese consumer buying has pretty much dried up," Malcolm Freeman of Kingdom Futures said. Only the three-month LME a...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed this morning, Thursday March 14, with copper, nickel, lead and zinc down by an average of 0.4%, while lead and tin were up by 0.1% 0.4% respectively.Three-month copper was recently quoted at $6,444 per tonne, down by 0.3% compared with Wednesday's close at $6,466 per tonne.Volume was below average, with 5,913 lots traded on LME...Read More
Exchanges have an important role to play in the growing push for the use of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria in investing, the chief executive officer of the London Metal Exchange said. Matthew Chamberlain said that the lack of a global regulatory body policing ESG criteria meant that sometimes it falls to exchanges and other market infrastructure players to step up and use thei...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
South African state power utility Eskom has implemented load shedding for the first time this month amid lingering power constraints, sparking predictions of ferro-chrome price spikes if the situation deteriorates. Load shedding - controlled power outages - were last implemented in mid-February and were reported to have affected large industrial power users, including ferro-chrome smelters. After...Read More
Domestic stainless steel prices in China dropped over the past week , reflecting weakness in nickel futures, while demand for finished products was stable.Fastmarkets MB's domestic price assessment for benchmark 304 stainless cold-rolled coil in the major market of Wuxi was 14,700-15,200 yuan ($2,191-2,265) per tonne including value-added tax for the week ended Wednesday March 13, down 300-400 yua...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed this morning, Friday March 15, with copper, aluminium and nickel up by an average of 0.6%, while zinc, lead and tin were down by an average 0.6%. Three-month copper was recently quoted at $6,449 per tonne, up by 1% compared with Thursday’s close at $6,385 per tonne. Volume was significantly above average, with 19,661 lots...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 13 points in pre-opening trade. Oracle (ORCL $53.05) is expected to open lower after releasing lower than consensus fiscal fourth quarter earnings guidance.Broadcom (AVGO $268.20) is expected to open higher after reporting higher than consensus fiscal first quarter earnings. Adobe (ADBE $267.69) is expected to open low...Read More