The price for rebar produced and delivered in Northern Europe remained flat on Wednesday January 30 on very little new business, as pressure builds ahead of the European Commission's final proposal for its 2019 import quotas, expected next week.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Northern Europe stayed at ?,?530-550 ($606-629) per tonne delivered on Wednesday. The market has...Read More
Ukrainian steelmakers, excluding those in the eastern provinces that were seized by rebels in 2017, managed to increase their output of pig iron and steel in 2018, supported by favorable conditions in the global steel market, and higher prices in particular.Production of pig iron in Ukraine increased by 5% year-on-year in 2018 to 20.56 million tonnes, the country's steel union, Ukrmetallurgprom, s...Read More
The Gulf Co-operation Council nations (GCC) increased the import duty on rebar to 10% from the previous 5% iwithn effect from January 1, 2019, the Arab Iron & Steel Union (AISU) announced on Wednesday, January 30.The United Arab Emirates had earlier increased its own import duty on rebar to 10%, from the previous 5%, Dubai Customs announced on January 16.The AISU noted that the duty increase appli...Read More
Brazilian miner Vale is expected to compensate for most of the loss in output caused by the decommissioning of tailings dams by ramping-up other operations, analysts told Fastmarkets on Wednesday January 30.The company announced a potential 10% cut in its production guidance while decommissioning goes on. Vale intends to produce 400 million tonnes per year of iron ore from 2019 onward, but ending...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices went up on Wednesday January 30 following another burst of fresh bookings completed at higher prices, sources told Fastmarkets.There were two cargoes booked from the United States.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a US cargo comprising 30,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $310 per tonne cfr for February shipment.A second US cargo was booked by a mill...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices surged above $80 per tonne on Wednesday January 30 amid market bullishness after Vale announced production cuts of 40 million tonnes per year due to the decommissioning of all its upstream tailings dams in Brazil.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $82.53 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $3.84 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $83.37 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $3.84 per tonne....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 transaction: iron oreIron oreRio Tinto, Global Ore,...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices spiked on Wednesday January 30 despite sellers winding down ahead of the Chinese New Year break, with developments in the iron ore market providing some upward momentum.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,780-3,800 yuan ($561-564) per tonne, up 40-50 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,720-3,740 yuan per tonne, up 30 yuan per tonnePrices rose during the day wit...Read More
The seaborne coking coal market strengthened further on Wednesday January 30 amid an emergence of higher bids.Bids for branded materials on trading platform Global Coal rose to $203 per tonne fob Australia during the day, compared with $189 per tonne fob a few days ago.Meanwhile, a top Australian brand was traded at around $208 per tonne cfr China via a miner's tender, according to various sources...Read More
Asian ferrous scrap prices are climbing due to steel mills looking to secure more steelmaking raw materials.This is on the back of possible iron ore supply cuts by key Brazilian miner Vale, which said it was expecting a production loss of 40 million tonnes while decommissioning all its upstream dams over the next three years."Steel mills in Asia are looking to purchase more ferrous scrap in case p...Read More
The US copper price built on previous momentum with optimism growing ahead of America and Chinese trade talks. The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped by 4.15 cents to $2.7665 per lb. Scheduled trade talks between the United States and China could be one reason for this, while US Federal Reserve policymakers are expected to hold intere...Read More
Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Wednesday January 30 *Copper -$111.10 (-747.68 yuan) Aluminium -$354.98 (-2,388.97 yuan) Zinc -$89.45 (-601.97 yuan) Nickel -$494.85 (-3,330.23 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE front-month and LME three-month...Read More
Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange continued its strong performance during morning trading on Wednesday January 30, moving past $12,300 per tonne for the first time since October 2018 amid a continued drawdown in LME supply. The metal's three-month price is up more than 15% from its 2018 low of $10,500 per tonne on December 31, while total LME inventory remains at its lowest l...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were for the most part still consolidating the gains seen at the end of last week, following weakness on Monday January 28, an up day on Tuesday, and now awaiting further direction.Three-month LME prices were up by an average of 0.2% on Wednesday morning, with the majority up between 0.1% and 0.3%, but with nickel up by 0.9% and aluminium...Read More
The following Fastmarkets minor metals prices changed on Wednesday January 30:Bismuth MB free market, $/lb: $3.70-4.10 per lb from $3.50-4.00Cobalt MB free market alloy grade, $/lb: $18.50-20.50 per...Read More
The following Fastmarkets UK non-ferrous scrap and foundry ingot prices changed on Wednesday January 30:Aluminium ingotLM24 pressure diecasting ingot: ?1,415-1,465 per...Read More
The US copper premium remained at a multi-year high this week, with a significant stock cancelation at the LME's New Orleans warehouses failing to nudge it even higher; the Chinese cathode market was quiet before the Lunar New Year holiday and due to a negative import arbitrage. A total of 25,000 tonnes of copper was freshly canceled in New Orleans on Tuesday and Wednesday but US premiums were un...Read More
Prices for steel billet in Asia are likely to come under greater pressure in 2019 with demand for it as well as downstream long steel products expected to stay subdued amid an impending surge in new supply, sources told Fastmarkets MB."Regional demand is weak, so there is not enough room for everyone," a Vietnam-based trader said, referring to a string of new billet production capacity set to come...Read More
A dovish US Federal Reserve stance, a weaker dollar and a firmer Chinese yuan, which may indicate confidence in US-China trade talks, are all helping to underpin the three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange this morning, Thursday January 31. Lead and zinc prices led on the upside with gains of 0.6% and 0.5% respectively, followed by rises of 0.4% in tin, 0.3% in aluminium,...Read More
Fastmarkets MB Research has a very good track record of producing accurate price forecasts for the base metals. In Fastmarkets’ Apex survey, which ranks the forecasting accuracy of more than 20 commodity bank analysts and trading desks, we regularly feature in the top-five leader boards. Bronze for Fastmarkets In the latest results, published last week, we took the number three...Read More