Base metals futures on the London Metal Exchange rebounded at the close of trading on Friday November 16, led by a strong performance in the three-month lead price while a marked downturn in the US dollar index prompted follow-up buying. Trading for a time above $2,000 per tonne, the three-month lead price posted significant gains amid total LME lead stocks and remained at its lowest level since 2...Read More
Chile's Copper Commission, or Cochilco, has lowered its copper price estimates for 2018 and 2019, while expecting an increase in prices for 2020, the state-run board said on Thursday November 15.In its quarterly report on the copper market, average copper prices should be $2.97 (297 cents) per lb this year, according to Cochilco, down from a previous $3 per lb forecast in July. The commission expe...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Metal Bulletin rounds up some of the key news and price moves across the global metal markets this week.Base metalsAntofagasta aims to increase copper capacity by 70,000 tonnes per year via a rebuild of its Los Pelambres mine in Chile at a cost of $1.3 billion, the Chilean copper producer said.The US Beer Institute has called on the United States government to scrutinize aluminium price...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
At Fastmarkets MB's 34th International Ferro-alloys Conference in Lisbon this week, we polled delegates about their expectations for the ferro-alloys markets in 2019. How will ferro-alloy prices move in 2019 relative to 2018? After a strong year in 2018, which has included a steady increase in manganese ore prices and multi-year highs in the vanadium market, the greatest proportion of poll respond...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
Global ferrous scrap prices surrendered to the downward pressure created by weak mill demand and tepid finished steel sales during the working week from Monday November 12 to Friday November 16, with the exception of those in India.Turkish import scrap prices fell, with only four cargo bookings made during the week. Import prices in Taiwan and Vietnam also continued to trend downward. India's impo...Read More
Austenitic steel scrap prices fell further this week with the negative market factors that have developed in recent weeks remaining in place. The pressure on prices came from poor demand, decreasing nickel prices and a lack of confidence that the market will pick up early in 2019.In Europe, the price of imports of 18/8 stainless steel scrap solids was assessed at ?,?950-970 ($1,076-1,098) per tonn...Read More
The Turkish steel mills resumed a watchful position in the deep-sea scrap markets on Friday November 16, with no bookings made and prices remaining unchanged, Fastmarkets was told.After the news of two deep-sea bookings heard on November 15 at $335 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20) both from the Baltic Sea and US suppliers, the mills in Turkey returned to being quiet at the end of the week.News of...Read More
Comex copper prices hit a multi-week high in morning tradingin the United States on Friday November 16, amid improving macroeconomic fundamentals and with trade talks to be held between the US and China.The copper price for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose by 2.25 cents to $2.7690 per lb on Friday. Earlier in the trading session, the contract peake...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were either little changed or stronger on the morning of Friday November 16.Zinc and aluminium prices were up by the most with gains of 0.6% and 0.4%% respectively, while the rest were little changed with copper down by 0.1% at $6,195 per tonne. Volume has been above average with 6,330 lots traded as at 07.10am London time.This morning's...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
The weekly Chinese domestic spot battery-grade lithium carbonate price was unchanged on Thursday November 15 with most major buyers concluding their final deals before the end of the year. Battery-grade lithium carbonate prices were stable in China and in the seaborne markets, with most producers working with limited stocks before the year-end. Technical and industrial-grade lithium carbonate...Read More
Domestic prices for coated steel coil products in Turkey have moved down over the past week due to slow trading conditions, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 16."Demand is slow and sentiment is bearish, so the mills have had to decrease their prices," a trader...Read More
Domestic prices for steel coil products in Turkey were expected to move down due to limited demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 16."Demand is barely there, and there were hardly any deals done this week," a source said."There might be more activity seen next week, but most likely the mills will not be able to maintain the current level of prices," he added.Fastmarkets' weekly price...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices were largely stable on Friday November 16, with buyers doing their usual rounds of restocking ahead of the weekend.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,800-3,830 yuan ($547-552) per tonne, widening upward by 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,830-3,850 yuan per tonne, widening downward by 10 yuan per tonnePrices in eastern China widened upward, with most tra...Read More
Metal Bulletin reviews the major stories that have affected the steel market during the week ended Friday November 16.Raw MaterialsThe Singapore Exchange will launch high-grade iron ore derivatives settled against the daily MB 65% Fe Iron Ore Index published by Fastmarkets MB in the first week of December.Asia ferrous scrap prices are still falling due to weak demand from steel mills and ample sup...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Friday November 16. Base metals on the London Metal Exchange had a mixed start during morning trading on Friday November 16, with investor sentiment improving amid easing US-China trade tensions and a slight downturn in the US dollar index.Both lead and nickel futures were the biggest climbers over the morning, apprec...Read More