Global ferrous scrap prices recovered earlier losses and moved upward during the week ended Friday January 25, with a number of deals being done at higher prices, Fastmarkets heard throughout the week.Prices into Turkey moved up after new deep-sea cargo bookings, which also helped to push up export scrap prices from the United States. Good demand increased scrap prices in Asia, while India made ga...Read More
Alloy surcharges to be applied to stainless steel products in Europe for February have decreased for the seventh consecutive month, Fastmarkets heard on Friday January 25.The decreases, which in the case of the grade-304 cold-rolled (CR) sheet surcharges were ?,?46-59 ($52-67) per tonne, were not expected to be reflected in transaction prices for the material, which were believed to have bottomed...Read More
UK alloy steel scrap prices were stable this week, with firmer nickel and molybdic oxide prices being offset by stronger sterling versus the euro.With the majority of UK scrap being shipped to the European continent, any increase in the value of sterling must be balanced by lower prices in order to keep cargoes competitive.Therefore, UK scrap prices were largely stable this week. The price of 18/8...Read More
Consumption of ferrous scrap in the United Kingdom will continue to increase over the coming years amid an expansion in the UK operations of international metals group Liberty House, Fastmarkets MB's research team believes. UK scrap demand in 2018 is on course to rise for the first time in four years after Liberty restarted a second electric arc furnace (EAF) at its site in Rotherham, northern Eng...Read More
Christophe Olivier, the head of copper concentrates trading at commodities firm MRI Trading, has left the organization after 11 years, sources close to the company told Fastmarkets on Friday January 25.Olivier, who had been with the firm since 2007, resigned earlier this week to pursue other opportunities, one source said.MRI declined to comment at the time of publication.It is unclear whether the...Read More
Fresh restrictions on production planned for China's steelmaking hub of Tangshan in the northern region do not appear to have had any effect on steel prices, market sources told Fastmarkets MB.Local authorities intend to extend production limits imposed on heavy industries beyond the winter heating season - which concludes at the end of March - to the April-September period to preserve air quality...Read More
There has been increasing emphasis on spodumene pricing due to the growing importance of this concentrate as a major source of feedstock for conversion in lithium compounds and the potential knock-on effect in the downstream electric vehicle and battery sectors. The growing importance of hard rock lithium concentrate as a major source of feedstock for lithium carbonate and hydroxide production has...Read More
Stabilizing prices this month have lifted the gloom from China's steel sector, resulting in the emergence of optimism for the market after the Chinese New Year.Toward the end of 2018, most market participants had been pessimistic about Chinese steel prices, particularly those for flat steel, with the key automotive industry experiencing its first sales decline since the 1990s last year."Market par...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher at the close of trading on Friday January 25, with a downturn in the US dollar index supporting higher prices, while tin futures fell on more than 1,000 tonnes of inflows.Closing above $6,000 per tonne for the first time this year, copper's three-month price appreciated by 2.2% over the afternoon and total volumes traded toppe...Read More
London Metal Exchange tin inventory, which reached its lowest level in 30 years earlier this week, has received its largest inflow since November 2014. More than 1,000 tonnes was delivered into LME-listed warehouses in Singapore on the morning of Friday January 25, taking the total LME tin stock count back above 2,000 tonnes. After today's morning inflow, tin's outright price dropped $500 per tonn...Read More
Comex copper prices rebounded on Friday January 25 after three straight declines amid a lower dollar and a round of technical buying. The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange surged 5.35 cents to $2.6980 per lb. Market participants remain wary of commodity markets, though, with Chinese and...Read More
European alloy surcharges for stainless steel products have fallen for the seventh consecutive month with the February surcharge down because of continuing weak market fundamentals and a sharp drop in molybdenum prices in January.The February alloy surcharge for molybdenum-containing grade-316 cold-rolled (CR) sheet - based on data published by producers Outokumpu, Aperam and Acerinox -...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher at the close of trading on Friday January 25, with a downturn in the US dollar index supporting higher prices, while tin futures fell on more than 1,000 tonnes of inflows.Closing above $6,000 per tonne for the first time this year, copper's three-month price appreciated by 2.2% over the afternoon and total volumes traded toppe...Read More
First Quantum Minerals has suspended production at its Cobre Las Cruces copper mining and hydrometallurgical complex in Spain following a land slippage at its open-pit mine on Wednesday January 23. The area has been evacuated and isolated for safety and environmental procedures since the land slippage in the early morning, the Canadian mining company said. The miner did...Read More
London Metal Exchange tin inventory, which reached its lowest level in 30 years earlier this week, has received its largest inflow since November 2014. More than 1,000 tonnes was delivered into LME-listed warehouses in Singapore on the morning of Friday January 25, taking the total LME tin stock count back above 2,000 tonnes. After today's morning inflow, tin's outright price dropped $500 per tonn...Read More
Comex copper prices rebounded on Friday January 25 after three straight declines amid a lower dollar and a round of technical buying. The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange surged 5.35 cents to $2.6980 per lb. Market participants remain wary of commodity markets, though, with Chinese and...Read More
The market cannot get too excited about base metals prices in 2019 while the trade conflict between the United States and China continues to dominate headlines, INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said. Meir was the 2018 winner of the base metals price prediction category in Fastmarkets' Apex competition. Speaking to Fastmarkets MB, Meir said: "The year ahead is going to be much of the same and...Read More
Christophe Olivier, the head of copper concentrates trading at commodities firm MRI Trading, has left the organization after 11 years, sources close to the company told Fastmarkets on Friday January 25.Olivier, who had been with the firm since 2007, resigned earlier this week to pursue other opportunities, one source said.MRI declined to comment at the time of publication.It is unclear whether the...Read More
Base metal stocks at Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses were mostly up week on week on Friday January 25, with copper registering the largest gain while lead and nickel stocks fell. Deliverable copper stocks at SHFE-approved warehouses grew 18.7% or 18,849 tonnes to 119,727 tonnes in the week to Friday. The 830 Huangpu warehouse in Guangdong had 7,220 tonnes of copper delivered into its...Read More
Base prices for coated flat steel in the United States have slipped by a further 50 cents per hundredweight ($10 per short ton) in Fastmarkets AMM's latest assessment, driven in part by prices as low as $39 per cwt that were heard in the marketplace this past week. Fastmarkets assessed the domestic base price for hot-dipped galvanized coil at $40 per cwt ($800 per ton) on Thursday January 24, whil...Read More