Premium hard coking coal fob prices jumped on the latest trade on Friday September 3, indicating a promising outlook for the fob market. And the low-volatility pulverized coal injection (PCI) price in the cfr market soared due to tight supply from Russia, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $441.97 per tonne, down by $1.05 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang...Read More
Turkish steel producers returned to the deep-sea scrap market to book several cargoes on the last working day of the week, market participants said on Friday September 3.Market sources reported a deal for a Venezuela-origin cargo, which was booked on September 2 by a Turkish mill in the Iskenderun region, comprising 25,000 tonnes of heavy melting scrap 1&2 (80:20) at $444 per tonne for Octobe...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.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
The anticipated agreement between the European Union and the United States on Section 232 tariffs would boost flat-steel export sales to the US and, consequently, reduce domestic EU availability, triggering a price rise in Europe, European buyers told Fastmarkets.The US and EU will reach an agreement on the exemption from Section 232 of European imports of steel and aluminium by November 1. The US...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices rebounded on Friday September 3 following an uptick in China's steel market, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $144.71 per tonne, up $2.69 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $145.30 per tonne, up $2.71 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $114.54 per tonne, up $2.52 per tonne65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cfr Qi...Read More
The European steel hot-rolled coil market was quiet and lacking in direction on Friday September 3, with buyers and mills split on the future trend of prices, Fastmarkets heard.Producers in Northern Europe and Italy said they were sold out until the end of 2021, with some even booked for the first quarter of 2022, so are in no rush to reduce prices. In addition, if the European Union and the Unit...Read More
Chilean copper production in July was close to stability when compared with the corresponding month of 2020, amid increased output from Codelco and a drop reported by Escondida and Collahuasi, the country's copper commission, Cochilco, said on Thursday September 2.Chile produced 465,000 tonnes of copper in July, a slight decrease of 0.02% from 465,100 tonnes a year before but down by 2.58% from 47...Read More
Fastmarkets copper concentrate processing charges continued to rise in the week to Friday September 3.Copper smelters were buying a few spot parcels of concentrates, Fastmarkets heard, with transactions for October cargoes heard at $60s per tonne for standard clean concentrates.Miners have put more tonnages onto the spot market for sale. Some Escondida and Toromocho parcels were...Read More
The global aluminium industry needs to work collaboratively and faster to deal with carbon emissions, and social and governance challenges, executives said during a sustainability panel discussion at Fastmarkets' International Aluminium Conference on Friday September 3.Such industry-wide movement will also need large investments to materialize, which could come from the private sector, the governm...Read More
Spot prices for hot-rolled coil in China's domestic market rose on Friday September 3 after supply concerns emerged following a series of mill announcements of maintenance plans for September, the traditional high season, sources told Fastmarkets.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,760-5,800 yuan ($892-898) per tonne, up by 90-110 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): weekly assessment: 5,720-5...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 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
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session on Friday September 3.Key drivers September has been a busier month with plenty of activity so far with a pick-up in spot demand following the summer lull. The bottom end of the alloy grade market regained...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing sessions in India, Europe, China and the United States on Friday September 3.ChinaSpot silico-manganese and ferro-manganese prices surged, with looming supply concerns after Guangxi province ordered production restrictions early in the week. The strong performance of silico-manganese futures increased bullish sentiment.Hebei Iron & Steel Group (HBIS) set its...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Dalila Ouerghi and...Read More
Switzerland-based metals trader MRI Trading has hired Anant Mishra to head its office in South Africa, Fastmarkets heard on Friday September 3.Mishra will join MRI later this month from Vedanta Resources, where he has worked since 2004,...Read More
Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto will offer its benchmark iron ore fines, Pilbara Blend Fines (PBF), against an average of three indices from Thursday September 2, the Beijing Iron Ore Trading Centre (Corex) said this week.Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% fines will form one third of the basket index, which also includes the average of indices produced by two other price reporting agencies.The...Read More
Eight of the nine Category 1 members of the London Metal Exchange have indicated their support for continuing to trade official lunchtime prices in the open-outcry ring.Does this mean that one company does not support ring trading? And could one of the exchange's members be preparing to leave the trading floor?The exchange revealed on Monday August 9 that it had majority support for the ring, in a...Read More
The European steel hot-rolled coil market was quiet and lacking in direction on Friday September 3, with buyers and mills split on the future trend of prices, Fastmarkets heard.Producers in Northern Europe and Italy said they were sold out until the end of 2021, with some even booked for the first quarter of 2022, so are in no rush to reduce prices. In addition, if the European Union and the Unit...Read More