An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Canadian zinc miner Trevali is set for broad leadership changes after Mark Cruise stepped down as president and chief executive officer, it said on Thursday January 17. Chairman and director Mike Hoffman will also stand down from the board of directors, with both continuing in their roles until their successors are appointed. The company has rapidly expanded its zinc interests since acquiring a ma...Read More
The Comex copper price continued to move higher on Friday January 18 ahead of the US public holiday amid a short-covering rally. There is a public holiday in the United States for Martin Luther King Jr day on Monday. The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 1.60 cents to $2.6960 per lb on Friday. "A short-covering rally in LME copper se...Read More
Jiangxi Copper has appointed Zheng Gaoqing as its new general manager after the key leadership position had been left vacant for six months, the major Chinese copper producer said on Friday January 18. Zheng is also the deputy director with Jiangxi province's state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and senior management of several provincial electronics companies. He has no pr...Read More
United States-based Alcoa, the world's eighth-largest aluminium producer, has forecast a surplus of alumina in 2019 while it increases aluminium metal shipments.There was a 600,000-tonne deficit of alumina at the end of 2018, the company said, rounding off a year of record market tightness.Fastmarkets' alumina index rocketed upward to $707.75 per tonne on April 24, 2018, the highest since the inde...Read More
Export prices for Brazil-origin steel slab declined this past week, with sellers willing to accept lower bids in order to secure deals.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment of Brazilian export slab was $410-460 per tonne fob on Friday January 18, down by $5 from $415-465 per tonne fob a week earlier."[Slab] prices continue to slide and we don't see [them reaching]...Read More
Prices for cold-rolled coil and hot-dipped galvanized material in the United States have moved into correction territory, falling to levels last seen before the Section 232 tariffs were implemented.The continued declines result from short mill lead times and come amid a debate about whether prices have bottomed or might fall further.Cold-rolled coilFastmarkets AMM's price assessment for cold-...Read More
Prices of imports of commercial-grade hot-rolled coil (HRC) into India in the week ended Friday Jaunary 18 widened after large shipments were booked from Iran and South Korea.Importers have confirmed bookings of commercial-grade HRC of Iranian origin at $450-455 per tonne cfr Mumbai for shipment in February, while South Korea-origin HRC priced at $520-525 per tonne cfr Chennai port was also booked...Read More
ArcelorMittal Brasil is currently designing a long-term strategic plan until 2030 with a possibility that it would include an expansion to its flat-rolling capacity in Tubar??o, local chief executive officer Benjamin Baptista said on Friday January 18.The company owns roughly 13.5 square kilometers of land in Tubar??o, the name of the unit located in Serra, a city in the southeast Brazilian state...Read More
Some steel coil prices in Turkey fell this week on continued slow demand because buyers are waiting for prices to reach a bottom, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday January 18.Demand has been poor in the country since August 2018, when relations between Turkey and the United States deteriorated, when Turkish lira lost value against the US dollar after US president Donald Trump's administratio...Read More
Coated steel prices in Turkey were stable in the week to Friday January 18, with demand expected to improve because of low stock levels.Buying has been slow for some time, so buyers will have to place bookings soon, sources told Fastmarkets.Domestic pricesOne producer in northern Turkey was offering 0.5mm hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) at $640 per tonne ex-works, while a...Read More
Pig iron exporters from the south of Brazil cut prices lower to sell a cargo to the United States, Fastmarkets learned on Friday January 18.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for pig iron exports from the southeastern Minas Gerais region was $310-312 per tonne fob on January 18, narrowing downward from $310-320 per tonne fob a week before.Some 27,000 tonnes of pig iron with 0.15% phosp...Read More
UK ferrous scrap prices for deliveries in January have dropped by ?15-20 ($19-26) per tonne, depending on grade, due to persistent weakness in export prices to the key destination of Turkey, trade sources told Fastmarkets on Friday January 18.The move followed a uniform price drop of ?20 per tonne in December settlements, after a rollover for two consecutive months.European export prices to trad...Read More
Alloy steel scrap prices were influenced a range of factors in the week ended Friday January 18, including divergent pricing trends for key alloy components, poor demand and changing currency values.The result of this was that scrap price developments have shown mixed fortunes.Demand from mills remained poor and buying mills held the advantage in price negotiations, and this put downward pressure...Read More
The price of shredded ferrous scrap imported into India was stable this week, with deals done at prices similar to last week, market participants said on Friday January 18.Fastmarkets' weekly index for containerized imports of shredded scrap into India was $318.73 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva on January 18, little changed from $319.24 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva on January 11.There were five deals for...Read More
The Turkish steel mills have continued to book deep-sea scrap but at a slow pace, with prices largely stable, sources said on Friday January 18.A steel producer in the Izmir region booked a US cargo, comprising 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $283 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of shredded at $288 per tonne cfr."The mills are trying...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices went up on Friday January 18 with Chinese steel mills stockpiling material ahead of the upcoming Chinese new year holiday.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $75.70 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up by $1.15 per tonne.MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $76.54 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up by $1.34 per tonne.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $76.88 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up by $0.96 per to...Read More
Copper, zinc and lead stocks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were up week on week on Friday January 18 in a quiet trading week in China, while aluminum, nickel and tin stocks fell. Deliverable zinc stocks at SHFE-approved warehouses rose by 9.25% or 2,492 tonnes to 29,434 tonnes in the week to Friday. Shanggang Logistic had 3,495 tonnes of zinc delivered into its warehouse, an increase of 300% or...Read More
Growing optimism for a US-China trade agreement has prompted London Metal Exchange base metals prices to consolidate higher across the board in morning trading on Friday January 18, with zinc's 1.3% increase leading the charge. Zinc's three-month price recently traded at $2581.50 per tonne, up 1.3% from Thursday's close. The climb in the metal's futures price comes after volatile price action last...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices were up on Friday January 18, with supply concerns emerging during the day on news of disruption to operations at Abbot Point port in Queensland, Australia, market sources said. Safety-related incidents had led to suspension of operations at two berths at the Abbot Point coal terminal, sources said. The port operator, however, could not be reached for comment at the tim...Read More