Pig iron export prices from the Black Sea region were largely stable this week, with sellers maintaining offers at the upper end of last week's price range, Fastmarkets learned on Thursday November 1.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for high-manganese pig iron was $365-375 per tonne fob Black Sea on Thursday, narrowing upward by just $5 per tonne.Cargoes intended for Italy originating in the B...Read More
Turkish steel producers made no purchases in the deep-sea scrap market on Thursday November 1, with a fresh offer of material from the Baltic Sea region failing to find a taker, according to market participants.A scrap merchant in the Baltic Sea region was heard offering 30,000-35,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) at $345 per tonne cfr on Thursday. No mill had accepted the cargo at...Read More
Turkish billet prices increased over the past week due to the latest uptick in imported scrap values in the country, sources said on Thursday November 1.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for billet imports into Turkey was $465-470 per tonne cfr on November 1, up from $455 per tonne last week.Suppliers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) were offering billet in Turkey at around $470-...Read More
Copper prices on the Comex exchange in New York maintained their recovery in the morning of Thursday November 1, with a weaker dollar providing support to the base metals complex.The copper price for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose day on day by 2.60 cents per lb to $2.6850 per lb."After a largely down session across a number of commodity complexe...Read More
The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Friday November 2.Comex copper prices in New York, like most base metals on the London Metal Exchange, mostly recovered on Thursday November 1, with a weaker dollar providing support to the complex. Read more in our live futures report.Here are how prices looked at the close of trading:A 10-year low in LME zinc stock volumes...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Thursday November 1.Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were collectively higher during morning trading on Thursday November 1, with most metals recovering from Wednesday's dip amid a softer US dollar index and a continued drawdown in LME inventories.Pushing back above $11,500 per tonne, the three-month nickel pr...Read More
Good morning from Fastmarkets MB's offices in Asia, bringing the latest news and pricing stories on Thursday November 1. Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mostly down during Asian morning trading, with the complex coming under pressure from weaker China data. China's weak manufacturing growth for October, with manufacturing PMI at 50.2 and non-manufacturing PMI...Read More
Asia's flat steel market is expected to continue to see declining prices amid persistently weak demand and excess supply in the region, market sources told Fastmarkets MB this week.Spot prices for various flat steel products are at intra-year lows, falling steadily after peaking earlier this year. The bearish sentiment will prevail for the time-being, market sources said, with buyers taking the op...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were collectively higher during morning trading on Thursday November 1, with most metals recovering from Wednesday's dip amid a softer US dollar index and a continued drawdown in LME inventories. Pushing back above $11,500 per tonne, the three-month nickel price gathered support over the morning session, hitting an intraday high of $11,645 per tonne after f...Read More
Seaborne coking coal spot prices were mostly unchanged on Thursday November 1 amid an inactive market.In China, spot prices for domestic coking coal from Shanxi to Tangshan increased by around 60-70 yuan ($8.60-10) per tonne, a coke plant source in Tangshan said."We saw that coming. We are now paying around 1,520 yuan per tonne for hard coking coal with 1.3% sulfur and around 1,840 yuan per tonne...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil market continued to drop on Thursday November 1 amid rising supply after tumbling a day earlier, while export prices are also expected to dip after the product had its export rebate increased. DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,060-4,080 yuan ($582-585) per tonne, down 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 4,040-4,050 yuan per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneChinese stee...Read More
London Metal Exchange members are considering a multitude of ways to continue to service their EU clients in the event that a financial services deal is either not forthcoming or does not go far enough when the UK finally leaves the European Union. Some companies have even told their LME sales teams they need to be prepared to move to another major European city to be able to legally service their...Read More
Turkish domestic rebar and wire rod prices went down this week because the value of the country's lira strengthened against the dollar, even though demand remained moderate, sources said on Thursday November 1.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar on Thursday was TRY3,300-3,450 ($596-623) per tonne ex-works, including 18% VAT, down from last week's TRY3,380-3,520 per tonne.The lo...Read More
The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Friday November 2.Comex copper prices in New York, like most base metals on the London Metal Exchange, mostly recovered on Thursday November 1, with a weaker dollar providing support to the complex. Read more in our live futures report.Here are how prices looked at the close of trading:A 10-year low in LME zinc stock volumes...Read More
Brazilian multi-metals producer Nexa Resources has maintained its production and sales estimates for the full year of 2018, although metal prices are down, chief executive officer Tito Martins said on Thursday November 1.Prices and premiums for zinc will probably continue to resist the weakness seen in other metal prices, Martins said in a conference call on the company's third-quarter results. He...Read More
Total zinc stocks on the London Metal Exchange were at a 10-year low on Thursday November 1, prompting one of the metal's widest cash/three-month spread backwardations to date.Despite mixed market sentiment, however, the increasing tightness in zinc availability could boil down to supply flows.Zinc's cash/three-month spread ballooned to $63 per tonne on October 23 this year from $15 per tonne on O...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Thursday November 1.Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were collectively higher during morning trading on Thursday November 1, with most metals recovering from Wednesday's dip amid a softer US dollar index and a continued drawdown in LME inventories.Pushing back above $11,500 per tonne, the three-month nickel pr...Read More
The arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Thursday November 1.*Copper -$116.03 (-809.22 yuan) Aluminium -$440.16 (-3,069.85 yuan) Zinc -$27.18 (-189.57 yuan) Nickel $671.76 (4,685.1 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE front-month and LME three-month...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were collectively higher during morning trading on Thursday November 1, with most metals recovering from Wednesday's dip amid a softer US dollar index and a continued drawdown in LME inventories. Pushing back above $11,500 per tonne, the three-month nickel price gathered support over the morning session, hitting an intraday high of $11,645 per tonne after f...Read More
ArcelorMittal reported a 41.8% year on year increase in its third-quarter earnings in a financial statement released on Thursday November 1, attributing the rise to higher steel prices.The company's quarterly earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) increased to $2.7 billion in July-September 2018, up from $1.9 billion in the corresponding period of 2017."As expected...Read More