On August 31, New South Wales' Independent Planning Commission (IPC) announced it had blocked plans for a new coal mine in New South Wales' Southern Highlands.The IPC decided to refuse development of the $533-million Hume Coal and Berrima Rail Project due to the projects' social impact and effect on water resources. The project is incompatible with land use objectives for the area, the IPC sa...Read More
Spot prices for Japanese exported scrap slid this week, reflecting weak demand from overseas buyers, market sources told Fastmarkets.But the end of the summer maintenance season at many domestic mills is set to shore up demand and spot prices in the coming weeks.Demand from key overseas market such as Vietnam and Taiwan remained very weak due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the former and cheaper cont...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States climbed above $97 per hundredweight ($1,940 per short ton) to a new record, with market participants expressing concern that upcoming mill maintenance will result in reduced availability of steel. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $97.08 per cwt ($1,941.60 per ton) on Thursday September 2, up by 0.86% from $96....Read More
Deep-sea steel scrap prices are expected to drop in upcoming bookings to Turkey, in line with falling finished steel prices in the country, market participants said on Thursday September 2.Sources said that suppliers in the United States were not currently offering material to Turkey because US domestic pricing negotiations remained unfinished. While a price drop is expected by some market partici...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed on the morning of Friday September 3, but overall the picture is one of consolidation ahead of today's employment report from the United States.* China’s Caixin services PMI dropped to 46.7 in August, from 54.9 in July, switching from expansion to contraction* The US Dollar Index continues to retreatBase...Read More
Deep-sea steel scrap prices are expected to drop in upcoming bookings to Turkey, in line with falling finished steel prices in the country, market participants said on Thursday September 2.Sources said that suppliers in the United States were not currently offering material to Turkey because US domestic pricing negotiations remained unfinished. While a price drop is expected by some market partici...Read More
Copper scrap prices in the United States were steady on Wednesday September 1 amid solid demand and whipsawing Comex copper prices."Demand has held up well overseas, domestically it's fair," one trader source said. "Consumers have found a comfort level with their suppliers and everybody is making decent money at these spreads, so there've been no drastic...Read More
Speculation as to whether China will lift its anti-dumping (AD) duty on Indonesian stainless steel arose during the week to September 2. Some market participants believe this move would reduce China's crude stainless steel production and thereby help lower carbon emissions.China has imposed AD duty on imports of stainless steel billet, slab, hot-rolled plate and coil produced in the European...Read More
Prices for domestic steel reinforcing bar in the United States were stable this week, with market participants waiting to see if other mills will follow Steel Dynamics Inc's (SDI) price increase.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel rebar, fob mill US was $49.25 per hundredweight ($985 per short ton) on Wednesday September 1, unchanged since August 11 but up by 75.89% from $28 per cwt at the sam...Read More
Lead was the best performer on the London Metal Exchange at the end of trading on Thursday September 2, reaching its highest price in the past week, while most other metals in the base-metals complex remained around their Wednesday prices.Lead's three-month contract rose to as much as $2,315 per tonne on Thursday, and closed the session at $2,312.50 per tonne, up from Wednesday's 5pm price of $2,2...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
Containerized scrap buyers in Taiwan maintained their bids for the material on Thursday September 2 after deals to South Korea were concluded at lower prices this week, sources said.Lower cfr South Korea deals weigh on Taiwan pricesProduction cuts pose uncertainties to scrap demand in ChinaTaiwanTaiwanese buyers maintained bids at $445 per tonne cfr today, reluctant to increase them further after...Read More
Domestic rebar prices remained unchanged in Egypt for orders to be placed in September on still-weak demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday September 2.Egyptian producers normally announce new rebar prices at the beginning of each month, but have kept their prices unchanged since May 17. And despite lifting a ban on construction activity on July 1, demand has remained limited, sour...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices recovered slightly on Thursday September 2, with demand stronger than in recent days following a rise in the futures market.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,210-5,250 yuan ($807-813) per tonne, up by 20 yuan per tonneThe most-traded January rebar futures contract rose to 5,348 yuan per tonne on Thursday morning, up by 106 yuan per tonne from Wednesday's closing pri...Read More
Deep-sea steel scrap prices are expected to drop in upcoming bookings to Turkey, in line with falling finished steel prices in the country, market participants said on Thursday September 2.Sources said that suppliers in the United States were not currently offering material to Turkey because US domestic pricing negotiations remained unfinished. While a price drop is expected by some market partici...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday September 2 that are worth another look.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...Read More
The lower house of the Brazilian Congress passed a personal and corporate income tax reform bill on Wednesday September 1 that included a 1.5 percentage point increase in mining royalties, while adding new commodities that will be subject to that change.The bill was approved by 398 votes against 77. It was intended to raise the Financial Compensation for Exploration of Mineral Resources - Cfem in...Read More
The seaborne premium hard coking coal cfr price and hard coking coal fob price soared on Thursday September 2 due to sustained tight supply. And some Chinese coke producers proposed the ninth round of price hikes since the start of August.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $443.02 per tonne, up $11.99 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $403.85 per tonne, up $7.33 per...Read More
The European hot-rolled coil market remained in "wait-and-see" mode on Thursday September 2, with mills continuing to reject buyers' lower bids, sources told Fastmarkets.Order books for the majority of EU mills are filled until the first quarter of 2022. As a result, they are keeping official offers unchanged from levels in June - before the market entered its traditional summer slowdown. Some mar...Read More
Speculation as to whether China will lift its anti-dumping (AD) duty on Indonesian stainless steel arose during the week to September 2. Some market participants believe this move would reduce China's crude stainless steel production and thereby help lower carbon emissions.China has imposed AD duty on imports of stainless steel billet, slab, hot-rolled plate and coil produced in the European...Read More