Key data from the Wednesday February 20 pricing session in Europe. Key drivers The European ferro-titanium spot price increased, with prices moving up on the low end of the range, after supply worries involving a major supplier prompted short-covering. Ferro-titanium producers and traders say they have been getting more buying interest from Europe and the United States. The producer typicall...Read More
A correction is underway in the three-month base metals prices traded on the London Metal Exchange with prices off by an average of 0.5% on the morning of Thursday February 21, compared with Wednesday’s closing levels. This morning’s price pullbacks follow a day of strength on Wednesday when the complex closed up with gains averaging 1.2%, which saw copper pushed up through the top of re...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 6 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus for Weekly Jobless Claims was 225,000 versus 239,000 last week. Actual was 216,000. Consensus for December Durable Goods Orders was an increase of 1.5% versus a gain of 0.8% in November. A...Read More
Wide contangoes on the London Metal Exchange were supporting global aluminium premiums on Tuesday February 19, with premiums in Europe, the United States and Japan all rising. Contango on LME offsets slow demand for duty-unpaid metal in Europe.Market participants in Asia expect higher premiums on wide spreads.US Midwest premium increases week-on-week in liquid market.Brazil aluminium premiums mixe...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday February 19.Please click...Read More
A consortium of metals and mining industry participants has teamed up with a blockchain technology firm to develop a platform to improve supply chain management and create efficiencies in the sector.Following its series on the role of blockchain in commodities trade finance, Fastmarkets looks next at the digitization of supply chain management.A consortium of metals and mining industry participant...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday February 19 that are worth another look.The London Metal Exchange has released the fees for its new cash-settled futures contracts to be launched on March 11, three of which - an aluminium premium contract, an alumina futures contract and a cobalt contract - are settled against Fastmarkets MB price benchmarks. Hot metal rem...Read More
Chinese exporters were seen raising vanadium offer prices amid stronger sentiment following the market's return from the Chinese New Year holidays, sources told Fastmarkets.Chinese vanadium export offers tick up European ferro-vanadium market flat on inactivity European vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) prices firm following stronger Chinese sentiment US ferro-vanadium prices widen amid activity incr...Read More
A consortium of metals and mining industry participants has teamed up with a blockchain technology firm to develop a platform to improve supply chain management and create efficiencies in the sector.Following its series on the role of blockchain in commodities trade finance, Fastmarkets looks next at the digitization of supply chain management.A consortium of metals and mining industry participant...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has released the fees for its new cash-settled futures contracts which will be launched on March 11, three of which are settled against Fastmarkets MB benchmarks.The cash-settlement fee for the aluminium premiums contracts will be $0.35 per leg, per side of the trade, per lot, the LME said on Tuesday February 19. The aluminium premiums suite includes a duty-unpaid Eu...Read More
The Turkish scrap import market continued to be quiet on Tuesday February 19 because of the slow rebar and billet sales in the country, sources told Fastmarkets.The mills in the country were still struggling to sell rebar and billet in both the domestic and export markets, so they were delaying their raw material purchases, Fastmarkets heard."Turkish producers were expecting to sell some rebar to...Read More
A consortium of metals and mining industry participants has teamed up with a blockchain technology firm to develop a platform to improve supply chain management and create efficiencies in the sector.Following its series on the role of blockchain in commodities trade finance, Fastmarkets looks next at the digitization of supply chain management.A consortium of metals and mining industry participant...Read More
The copper market surged in morning trading on Tuesday February 19 in the United States amid rising optimism for a trade resolution between the world's two largest economies - the US and China.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped by 6.5 cents per lb to $2.8635 per lb.Positive news about US-Chinese trade sentiment continued to suppor...Read More
The three-month base metals prices traded on the London Metal Exchange were mixed and little changed on the morning of Tuesday February 19.Zinc led the decline with a 0.3% drop to $2,635 per tonne from $2,643.50 per tonne at Monday's close, followed by nickel that was down by 0.2% at $12,440 per tonne from $12,465 per tonne, while aluminium was up by 0.2% at $1,858 per tonne from $1,854 per tonne....Read More
Global miner Eurasian Resources will place its Boss Mining copper-cobalt unit in Democratic Republic of Congo on care and maintenance at the end of February 2019, the company has told Fastmarkets."Boss Mining will be placed into care and maintenance from the end of February," the company said in a statement published on Tuesday February 19."We can confirm that technical and exploration work has st...Read More
Suppliers of hot-rolled (HR) and cold-rolled (CR) steel sheet to Russia's Central federal district around Moscow have increased their offer prices on seasonally improved demand and a burgeoning export market, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday February 18.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for Russia-origin 4mm HR sheet was 42,000-43,000 roubles ($634-649) per tonne cpt Moscow on Monday, includi...Read More
ArcelorMittal has added a further ?,?30 ($34) per tonne to its European coil steel prices, the world's largest steelmaker told Fastmarkets on Tuesday February 19.The second increase in offer prices in less than a month follows the company's announcement that it would be adding ?,?30 per tonne to the price of European coil products on January 31.The latest price increase will be...Read More
Export prices for Chinese cold-rolled coil (CRC) and hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) increased further over the past week, amid an uptick in spot trading and higher offers from mills, although the price uptrend appears to be slowing down.A handful of deals were done for both products during the week ended Tuesday February 19, in contrast to the previous week when none were reported.Yet, some trad...Read More
Rebar suppliers to Russia's Central federal district, the major steel-consuming region in the country, have increased their offer prices on expectations of a seasonal rebound in secondary market demand in March.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic 12mm A500C rebar in Russia, including 20% VAT, was 36,000-38,500 roubles ($543-581) per tonne cpt Moscow on Monday February 18, up from 33,...Read More
The price for steel rebar imported into the United Arab Emirates decreased this week in the latest deals, despite demand being stronger than in previous weeks, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday February 19.The reason for the fall in the rebar import price was that producers in Oman, currently the main exporter of rebar to the UAE, could not raise their prices for rebar as much as they had for bi...Read More