The Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed...Read More
Imported steel billet prices in Egypt fell in the week to Thursday, August 19, but demand failed to improve, sources told Fastmarkets.Demand for billet imports, however, was weak because of limited demand for the end product, rebar.The Egyptian government ended the ban on construction on July 1.However, rebar demand remained low in Egypt during the week because of decreasing global...Read More
Iron ore prices continued to fall on Thursday August 19, with sentiment turning negative due to the bearish demand outlook, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $132.66 per tonne,down $20.73 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $133.30 per tonne,down $20.77 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $103.46 per tonne,down $20.02 per tonne65% F...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States rose to nearly $97 per hundredweight ($1,940 per short ton) on Thursday August 19, surpassing the previous record set a week earlier.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $96.95 per cwt ($1,939 per ton) on August 19, up by 1.01% from $95.98 per cwt on Wednesday August 18, and 0.42% higher than the previous all-time...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices inched higher in the cfr China market amid positive market sentiment, while fob Austrialia prices remained largely unchanged, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday August 19.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $366.41 per tonne, up $0.93 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $323.83 per tonne, up $1.16 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT...Read More
Selling prevailed on the London Metal Exchange on the morning of Thursday August 19, with copper at its lowest levels in four months; tin's price decreased by as much as $4,000 during morning trade.Over 15,000 lots of copper had been traded by 9am on Thursday, more than half of the total 28,100 lots that were traded by the end of the day on Wednesday August 18, when the sell-off of the red metal w...Read More
The provincial government of Liaoning in northeastern China has approved a merger between Anshan Iron & Steel (Angang) and Benxi Iron & Steel (Bengang), according to a notice released by the latter's listed arm, Bengang Plate, on Thursday August 19.The owner of Bengang - Liaoning's State-owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission - will transfer a 51% controlling stake in the steelmaker...Read More
Russian steelmaker Metalloinvest and another, unnamed, non-European steel company, are in discussions about acquiring Hungarian flat steel producer Dunaferr, market sources told Fastmarkets this week.The Hungarian steelmaker's owners have been in negotiations with both parties and a decision is imminent, sources said, because Dunaferr is about to go through the liquidation process. Metalloinv...Read More
The United States' domestic steel reinforcing bar prices were steady over the past week, with sources trying to absorb the mixed market signals of increased rebar demand and dropping prices for shredded scrap - rebar's key feedstock material.Fastmarkets' assessment for steel rebar, fob mill US was $49.25 per hundredweight ($985 per short ton) on Wednesday August 18, unchanged from the previou...Read More
Commodity trading company Traxys has expanded its metal concentrates business with the appointment of a team that previously handled tin, tungsten, tantalum and niobium concentrates trading for commodity trading Noble Group.Theteam will be headed by Ioannis Kallinikos, previously head of industrial minerals and metals at Noble Group for more than six years. From 2010 to 2014, he was general manage...Read More
Domestic rebar prices in China dropped sharply on Thursday August 19 on falling futures, but restocking demand picked up amid the decreases. DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,010-5,040 yuan ($773-777) per tonne, down by 130 yuan per tonneThe most-traded January rebar futures contract dropped to a low of 4,925 yuan per tonne during Wednesday's night trading session - down by 219 yuan per tonne fr...Read More
The premium on copper cathodes imported into China shot up on Thursday August 19 to its highest level since May 2020, buoyed by the opening of an arbitrage window between London and Shanghai.Fastmarkets assessed the benchmark copper grade A cathode premium, cif Shanghai, at $75-100 per tonne on Thursday, up by $10-20 per tonne from $65-80 per tonne on Wednesday, and the highest since late May last...Read More
A gradual increase in end-user demand kept domestic stainless steel prices in China from falling further in the week ended Wednesday August 18. Nickel and stainless steel futures also experienced small changes during the week, which helped to keep spot stainless steel prices stable. The three-month nickel contract on the London Metal Exchange ended the official trading session on Wednesday at $19,...Read More
A month-on-month drop in the Kanto Tetsugen auction and a price cut by major mill Tokyo Steel on Thursday August 19 has increased pessimism in the Japan steel scrap market, sources said.Japan's Kanto tender closed at a fall of $11 per tonne month on monthBearish sentiment in Chinese steel markets weighed on scrap import pricesTaiwan imported containerized scrap price stableJapanJapan's Kanto...Read More
Antofagasta recorded a 68% rise in its revenues for the first half of 2021 compared with last year's earnings, despite lower copper sales. It cut its copper production guidance, however, due to a lack of rainfall in central Chile, the company said on Wednesday August 18.Financial results - in brief: Antofagasta's revenue rose by 67.9% to $3.6 billion in the first half of this year, compared with e...Read More
Brazilian apparent steel consumption rose by 23.85% year on year in July following the resumption of capacity that was idled early in the Covid-19 pandemic, national steelmaker association Instituto A??o Brasil said on Thursday August 19.Steel demand climbed to 2.36 million tonnes in July, up from 1.91 million tonnes a year before, data from A??o Brasil showed. Volumes, however, were down by 5.11%...Read More
Brazil's Vale and Luxembourg-based steel producer Ternium signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to seek low-carbon steelmaking solutions in an attempt to cut emissions, the Brazilian mining company said on Thursday August 19.Plans include potentially installing an iron ore briquetting plant at Ternium Brasil, the steelmakers' slab mill in Brazil's southeastern state of Rio de Janeiro. Ot...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday August 19 that are worth another look.Brazil's Vale and Luxembourg-based steel producer Ternium signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to seek low-carbon steelmaking solutions in an attempt to cut emissions, the Brazilian mining company said on...Read More
Domestic long steel prices in Turkey have continued to go down over the past week, in line with the falling deep-sea scrap import costs, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday August 19.Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices have been falling over the week while the country's producers were limiting their purchases.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, c...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 15 points in pre-opening trade.Volume on U.S. equity markets is expected to be higher than average today due to "Triple Witching" activity.The Canadian Dollar was unchanged at US77.50 cents following release of Canada's June Retail Sales report at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was a gain of 4.5% versus a decline of 2.2% in M...Read More