The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR? Impressive advances in ore and alloy prices persisted in March, with most markets posting significant price gains. Strengthening demand from steelmakers along with supply shortages and depleted inventories in numerous markets, as well as freight and transportation...Read More
Inner Mongolia, China's ferro-chrome production heartland, has imposed restrictions on its metallurgical sector in a move that has fueled the high-carbon ferro-chrome markets in China and Europe, and although this may ease off, the gains were unlikely to be lost while alloy ramp-ups continue, sources have told Fastmarkets.The decision to restrict energy consumption in Inner Mongolia since December...Read More
The latest forecasts and analysis of the ferrous scrap and iron metallics market from the Fastmarkets research team are ready to be viewed.Stifled automotive output this year, driven by a supply shortage of semiconductor chips used in vehicles, has tightened prime scrap availability and widened the spreads between this grade of steelmaking raw material and obsolete scrap.While wide prime-over-obso...Read More
Stainless steel prices continue to register new highs around the end of the first half of 2021 and steelmakers continue to enjoy outsized margins.They have responded in recent months by increasing their output, which has now pushed above pre-pandemic levels and will eventually restore balance to the market.For now, though, supply gaps are still being filled and buyers find themselves competing aga...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Recent weeks have brought two key developments with regard to trade policy on stainless steel products that will be to the detriment of consumers.In China, the country's stainless steelmakers no longer enjoy a 13% export rebate as of May 1, reducing greatly their incentive to export and instead leading them to focus on supply...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices and margins for stainless steel producers have risen notably over the past few months in both Europe and the United States, but there are now signs that the rally is petering out.A clear reason for the halt to rising prices comes from the near 20% drop in nickel prices seen in late February/early March,...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.With nickel prices down by almost 20% over the space of around ten days during late February and early March, one might have been expecting us to be reporting sharply-lower prices of stainless steel, at least for the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel.This is not the case, at least in Europe and the Unite...Read More
The export market for flat-rolled steel products from the Commonwealth of Independent States went down over the week to Wednesday August 25 on weak iron ore pricing and soft demand.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment of the price for steel hot-rolled coil, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $890-895 per tonne on Wednesday, down from $915-925 per tonne a week earlier.A sale of Ukraine-origin HRC was made t...Read More
An overview of the consumer electronics markets and their latest price moves in the week to Wednesday August 25.Fola Malomo, Cristina Belda and...Read More
The spot special high-grade (SHG) zinc premium in the United States moved higher week on week after multiple market participants reported hearing of deals and offers for material at double-digit premiums.Fastmarkets' zinc SHG min 99.995% ingot premium, ddp Midwest US rose to 8.75-10.00 cents per lb on Tuesday August 24, up by 10.29% from 8-9 cents per lb the week before and up by 13.64% from...Read More
Stainless steel scrap prices in the United States declined slightly while consumer demand weakened due to maintenance outages and some production difficulties.One stainless steel melting facility has a one-week maintenance outage scheduled for September, and another stainless mill has been experiencing some production problems, according to some scrap dealer sources. As a result, those mills have...Read More
Chilean copper producer Codelco has initiated construction work on Rajo Inca, a $1.38-billion addition to its Salvador mine, which should begin operations in 2022, the state-owned company said on Tuesday August 24.Rajo Inca increases the mine life at Salvador by 47 years, to 2070, with copper capacity to reach 90,000 tonnes per year, from 60,000 tpy currently. Mineral exploration will move from an...Read More
There were small rises on the London Metal Exchange for most futures contracts at the close on August 25, with lead rising the most by 1%, despite low volumes traded in some metals. Lead's three-month price closed above $2,300 per tonne at 5pm for the first time since August 16. It was at $2,318 per tonne at the close, up from Tuesday's close of $2,993.50 per tonne. Its volumes were broadly simila...Read More
Nickel premiums were unchanged in both the United States and China in the week to Tuesday August 24, with higher levels of spot business reported in Asia due to an opened arbitrage window between London and Shanghai.US 4x4 cut cathode premium steady, after rising by 11.1% in the previous week with market participants awaiting price direction.Spot activity up in Asia on an open arbitrage window bet...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have slipped below $96 per hundredweight ($1,920 per short ton), with some participants indicating that the market was stalling temporarily before spot offers open from September.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $95.31 per cwt ($1,906.20 per ton) on Wednesday August 25, down by 1.28% from $96.55 per cwt on Tu...Read More
Prices for steel hollow sections in Europe remained flat on Wednesday August 25 due to the quiet summer market, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe was ?,?1,400-1,430 ($1,644-1,679) per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged week on week.Trading remains low during the summer holidays - participants have not yet returne...Read More
Domestic prices for cold-rolled coil in Europe moved down slightly in the week to Wednesday August 25 with sentiment among buyers turning negative, sources told Fastmarkets.Buyers believed that prices would go down because of the sharp decline in iron ore costs last week, competitive import offers and the continuing shortage of semiconductors, which was limiting car manufacture."Automotive product...Read More
Trading activity in the Commonwealth of Independent States' export long steel market remained sluggish in the week to Wednesday August 25 amid slow demand from Europe due to holidays in the region as well as continuing competition with Turkish suppliers.Turkish steel producers decreased their export offers for rebar to $680-695 per tonne fob on an actual weight basis last week, against $695-705 pe...Read More
Export prices for steel billet from the Commonwealth of Independent States continued to fall in the week to Wednesday August 25, with lower sales and bids heard.Latin American demand remained strong, with a 30,000-35,000 tonne Ukraine-origin cargo sold at $610 per tonne fob Black Sea, sources said. This is $20 per tonne cheaper than in bookings in the region in the first half of August.Other marke...Read More
Brazilian energy and logistics company Grupo Cosan is building a joint venture (JV) to create an integrated iron ore mining and logistics company in the country's northern Caraj??s region.Cosan's subsidiary Atl??ntico Participa???ues will own 50% of voting shares and 37% of total shares of the new joint venture, called JV Minera????o.Atl??ntico signed a memorandum of understanding with Grupo Paulo...Read More