Cobalt demand from the consumer electronics industry will continue to grow, with no shift away from lithium-cobalt-oxide (LCO) batteries on the cards, according to battery manufacturer ATL's procurement director, Xu Shihui. "The price of cobalt has been fluctuating and there have been questions about whether cobalt can be substituted by nickel, but for consumer electronics the direction is LCO bat...Read More
First Cobalt Corp has started testing cobalt hydroxide material as feedstock for its refinery in Ontario, Canada, with the goal of producing cobalt sulfate or metallic cobalt products for sale into the North American market. The company has retained inspection and certification firm SGS Canada to test the suitability of different cobalt feed material using the refinery's current flowsheet and is a...Read More
Asian stainless steel participants are increasingly looking to Taiwan and Indonesia as the region's new price-setters, while Chinese exporters struggle to catch up in the heated price war, participants told Fastmarkets MB.Competition among suppliers in the region has intensified in recent months amid lackluster demand, growing pessimism and the increased availability of cheap substrate triggered b...Read More
China's ferrous futures fell during morning trading on Thursday November 8 after prices in most of physical markets weakened a day earlier.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange January rebar: 3,913 yuan ($565) per tonne, down 38 yuan per tonne January hot-rolled coil: 3,657 yuan per tonne, down 41 yuan per tonne Dalian Commodity Exchange January iron ore: 512 yuan per...Read More
China's domestic stainless steel prices were flat over the past week amid inactive trading.Fastmarkets MB's price assessment for benchmark 304 stainless cold-rolled coil in the major market of Wuxi was 15,400-15,700 yuan ($2,224-2,267) per tonne including VAT for the week ended Wednesday November 7, unchanged from a week earlier.Customers kept procurement rates low due to the soft demand for...Read More
Import prices for stainless steel in East Asia continued to fall during the past week, with exporters reducing their offers further amid shrinking regional demand and the soft nickel segment.Fastmarkets MB's import price assessment for 304 stainless 2mm trimmed cold-rolled coil was $2,030-2,100 per tonne cif East Asia for the week ended Wednesday November 7, down $10 per tonne from a week ear...Read More
Global recycling industry association the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has appointed Gregory Schnitzer as the new president of its Ferrous Division.Schnitzer is currently vice president of ferrous sales at Schnitzer Steel Industries (SSI), based in Oregon, United States. SSI is a long-standing BIR...Read More
U.S. equity index futures moved lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 13 points in pre-opening trade. Walt Disney added $1.50 to $117.50 after reporting higher than consensus quarterly revenues and earnings.General Electric dropped $0.28 to $8.82 after JP Morgan lowered its target price to $6 from $10.Activision plunged $8.51 to $54.26 after reporting lower than consensus quarterly ear...Read More
This afternoon the Federal Reserve concluded this month's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. Immediately following the conclusion of today's meeting, the Fed released a statement. There was no press conference held after the meeting. However, Chairman Powell has stated that next year every meeting will conclude with a press conference. "The labor market has continued to strengthen and...Read More
(Kitco News) - October’s equity correction, the biggest drop since the 2008 financial crisis, wasn’t enough to derail the Federal Reserve’s plan to gradually raise interest rates.As expected, the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged following Thursday’s monetary policy meeting; however, many economists noted that the central bank did not mention at all October&rsqu...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices are just modestly lower in early-afternoon U.S. trading Thursday. A rebound in the U.S. dollar index today, following selling pressure this week, worked against the precious metals market bulls. The metals markets showed no significant reactions to the just-released FOMC minutes that show no change in U.S. monetary policy. December gold futures were last down...Read More
(Kitco News) - The gold market, while down on the day, is seeing little reaction to the Federal Reserve leaving interest rates unchanged and setting the stage for another interest rate hike in December.Following its two-day monetary policy meeting, the U.S. central bank left interest rates unchanged within a range between 2.00% and 2.25% as expected. However, in its statement, the committee reiter...Read More
(Kitco News) - The Bank of England (BoE) is reportedly refusing to release gold bars worth just over $550 million to President Nicolas Maduro, who fears that U.S. sanctions against Venezuela would restrict access to that gold in the future, according to media reports.Maduro is attempting to repatriate at least 14 tonnes of gold the BoE is currently storing, the British newspaper The Times and Reut...Read More
(Kitco News) - Merger-and-acquisition activity in the mining sector is likely to pick up in the next year, said the consultancy EY in a report Thursday. The firm’s 19th Capital Confidence Barometer shows that 58% of global mining executives say they intend to pursue mergers and acquisitions in the next 12 months, compared with 46% across all sectors. Third-quarter deal value rose 25% from th...Read More
Asanko Gold Inc. (TSX, NYSE American: AKG) reports a third-quarter loss but also lists record output. The loss was $0.3 million, or zero cents per share, compared to net income of $4.2 million, or 2 cents, in the year-ago period. The reduction was mainly due to lower mine operating earnings on the Asanko Gold Mine joint venture and the start of equity accounting for Asanko’s interest in the...Read More
Editor's Note: Updating earlier story with more details from report.(Kitco News) - Gold remained modestly softer after Labor Department data Thursday showed that initial weekly U.S. jobless claims fell by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 214,000 in the week to Saturday.Consensus expectations compiled by various news organizations had called for initial claims to be around 210,000 to 213,000. Th...Read More
Global nickel premiums were largely unchanged over the past week due to limited spot market activity, with market participants working to conclude long-term contract negotiations, Fastmarkets heard on Wednesday November 7. Chinese nickel premiums stable amid open import windowEuropean premiums stable with focus on long-term contractsUS premiums flat in subdued spot market. Chinese nickel premium s...Read More
The tin premium in Europe softened from its highest level since January 2017 due to a market shift to longer-term supply solutions despite remaining elevated on Indonesian supply concerns, while both US and Chinese premiums held ground on steady spot business and sufficient supply. European premiums ease while market finds supply solutions US participants look to 2019 contracts China'...Read More
Fasmarkets' fob Australia alumina index declined for the eighth trading day in a row on Wednesday October 7, falling back to levels not seen since before Hydro declared force majeure at the Alunorte refinery in Brazil in April. The benchmark daily fob Australia alumina index was calculated at $428.75 per tonne on Wednesday, down from $430 per tonne on Tuesday and 8.98% lower week on week from...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday November 7 pricing session in Europe. Key drivers Recent downward trend in ferro-titanium has finally dragged down scrap prices. The trend started on September 12, when the market was assessed at $5.80-6.05 per kg.There is readily available alloy supply against moderate spot demand, with some buyers booking alloy through year-end. Some traders want rid of stocks to boo...Read More