China Molybdenum's acquisition of trading house IXM is central to the company's growth strategy for the coming years and it will continue to survey the market for more M&A opportunities, the company told Fastmarkets.The Chinese mining company, which has spent $4.65 billion in the past two years on an acquisition rampage, remains open to buy new assets if the right ones appear."We are looking for m...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were predominantly higher during morning trading on Thursday December 20, with a weaker US dollar index sustaining buying momentum while the potential removal of US sanctions against UC Rusal pressured aluminium to a fresh 2018 low. Reaching an intraday low of $1,905.50 per tonne, aluminium's three-month price fell to its lowest level of the year ami...Read More
Fastmarkets' low-grade cobalt price assessment for Friday December 14 was published later than scheduled due to a technical error. The low-grade cobalt price is correct and now appears as normal in the Fastmarkets MB price book. To provide feedback on this pricing notice or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter, please contact Charlotte Radford by email at: pr...Read More
Chinese customs officials continue to clamp down on antimony smuggling, with more material seized and more arrests made this week, Fastmarkets understands. Two suspects were arrested and 20 tonnes of antimony ingot seized on Wednesday December 19 amid China's latest efforts to stop the illegal movement of goods via the China-Vietnam border, sources familiar with the matter told Fastmarkets MB on T...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Thursday December 20.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were predominantly higher during morning trading, with a weaker dollar index sustaining buying momentum while the potential removal of US sanctions against UC Rusal pressured aluminium to a fresh 2018 low.Reaching an intraday low of $1,905.50 per ton...Read More
The three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were for the most part weaker this morning, Thursday December 20. The exception was aluminium that was up by 0.4% at $1,916 per tonne, while the rest were lower by an average of 0.5%.Copper was down the most with a 1.2% drop to $5,994 per tonne, this after rebounding 1.8% on Tuesday. Today's low at $5,946 per tonne once again breached...Read More
Revised standards for rebar in China have failed to lend continued support to vanadium prices in the country since their introduction in November, primarily due to enforcement of the standards not being as stringent as previously expected, market sources told Fastmarkets.The new rebar policy, effective November 1, 2018, requires Chinese steel mills to eliminate the original 335 megapascals (MPa)-t...Read More
Import prices for stainless steel in East Asia continued on a downward trend over the past week amid the year-end lull.Fastmarkets MB's import price assessment for 304 stainless 2mm trimmed cold-rolled coil in East Asia was $1,860-1,930 per tonne cif for the week ended Wednesday December 19, down $40 per tonne from a week earlier.Fastmarkets MB's import price assessment for 304 stainless trimmed h...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 2 points in pre-opening trade.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus for November Durable Goods Orders was an increase of 1.2% versus a gain of 4.3% in October. Actual was an increase of 0.8%. Excluding transportation, consensus for November Durable Goods Or...Read More
A steel trade group argued that the statute under which the US Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports were issued was unconstitutional, according to oral arguments during a US Court of International Trade (CIT) hearing on Wednesday December 19. The American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) alleged that the statute violates the constitutional prohibition against Congress delegati...Read More
The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) plans to remove sanctions against UC Rusal and En+ Group in 30 days due to significant restructuring and corporate governance changes, it said in a notice.Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska will remain sanctioned, however, and his property will remain blocked."Treasury sanctioned these companies because of their ownership and...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher at the close of trading on Wednesday December 19, reflecting a continued retreat in the dollar index The three-month copper price climbed 0.7%, ending back above $6,000 per tonne. In a quiet trading day, 16,200 lots of copper changed hands. In supply-side news, judges earlier this week ordered the reopening of Sterlite Copper's Tut...Read More
Alcoa will start to curtail half of the one operating potline at its Aluminierie de Becancour Inc (ABI) smelter in Quebec, Canada, it said on Wednesday December 19. The smelter has a nameplate capacity of 413,000 tonnes per year across its three potlines. Alcoa owns 74.95% of the Becancour smelter while Rio Tinto owns the remaining...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
A requirement for a higher energy density for new EV battery projects has been removed from the official regulations on automobile industry investment published by the country's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on its website. The energy density threshold was removed from the final version of the regulations on Tuesday December 18 owing to the fact that current technology is not d...Read More
Turkish scrap import prices fell again Wednesday December 19, following news of a fresh deep-sea cargo booking, sources told Fastmarkets MB.Details of a steel producer in the Iskenderun region booking a European cargo, comprising 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (75:25), 7,000 tonnes of a mixture of bonus and shredded and 3,000 tonnes of busheling, at an average price of $285 per tonne cfr, came to light...Read More
Comex copper prices rebounded on Wednesday morning in the US ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision on whether to raise or maintain interest rates.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 2.40 cents to $2.6885 per lb. Earlier, the contract hit a low of $2.6930 per lb, its weakest since November 14.While the...Read More
Years ago, the idea that machines would replace humans on the trading floor seemed far-fetched and the suggestion that algorithms might replace humans entirely ridiculous.But both have happened in some shape or form, making the advent of blockchain - now being vaunted as the next game-changer in technology - a lot more realistic than naysayers might initially think.Dozens of trials and projec...Read More
A requirement for a higher energy density for new EV battery projects has been removed from the official regulations on automobile industry investment published by the country's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on its website. The energy density threshold was removed from the final version of the regulations on Tuesday December 18 owing to the fact that current technology is not d...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) in the European Union are expected to continue their gradual decline after the market recovers from the Christmas holiday period lull, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday December 19. The prices are expected to stabilize for a couple of weeks due to the lack of market activity over the Christmas holiday period in Europe, according to market par...Read More