Metal Bulletin rounds up some of the key news and price moves from the past week in the world's metal markets. Base metals The persistent widening backwardation on the July/August spread has pushed aluminium premiums in Rotterdam to their lowest this year, with bearish sentiment sweeping the market. Premiums for the supply of aluminium to main Japanese ports (MJP) for the third quarter of 2018 hav...Read More
Governments around the world are keen to prove their green credentials by announcing target dates for the end of sales of vehicles powered by internal combustion engine vehicles and their total replacement by electric ones.The actual demands of different governments vary. Norway, at the forefront of EV take-up, originally believed it could phase out its subsidies by 2015: now, the target has moved...Read More
Nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange have been volatile throughout June, with macroeconomic-driven price dips clouding investor sentiment. The three-month nickel price has fluctuated by $1,340 between a monthly low of $14,505 per tonne and the June high of $15,845 per tonne so far this month. Trade tensions and a strong dollar are weighing on nickel prices, while market participants are expe...Read More
Governments around the world are keen to prove their green credentials by announcing target dates for the end of sales of vehicles powered by internal combustion engine vehicles and their total replacement by electric ones.The actual demands of different governments vary. Norway, at the forefront of EV take-up, originally believed it could phase out its subsidies by 2015: now, the target has moved...Read More
Chinese steel prices have been rangebound in June despite plunging inventory levels, with trade war fears and economic jitters keeping market participants on the sidelines for most of the month.Lower steel stocks held by mills and traders typically cause jumps in futures and physical spot trading prices, but this has not happened recently because Chinese market participants are still assessing the...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher at the close of trading on Friday June 29, ending the week on a slightly brighter note despite broad pressure from trade tensions and dollar strength. Continuing to struggle, zinc prices made a brief recovery during the day, moving back above $2,900 per tonne before drifting back toward $2,850 per tonne.The metal's three-month price made...Read More
The persistent widening backwardation on the July/August spread has pushed aluminium premiums in Rotterdam to their lowest this year, with bearish sentiment sweeping the market.The benchmark Rotterdam duty-unpaid P1020 aluminium in-warehouse premium has fallen to $85-95 per tonne on Friday June 29 from $90-100 per tonne assessed on June 19, which held for 10 assessments. This is over 40% lower tha...Read More
The seaborne coking coal market remained quiet on Friday June 29 on subdued demand and sustained bearish sentiment. "Despite the lack of trades, premium materials should still be assessed at around $195-200 per tonne fob Australia. It would be challenging to get a premium cargo below this range," an Indian trader said. "There are too many uncertainties at the moment. The looming China-US trade war...Read More
Prices for alloy steel scrap in the United Kingdom and Europe were unchanged this week despite falls in the price of both ferro-chrome and nickel.The third-quarter ferro-chrome benchmark settled at $1.38 per lb this week, a drop from the second-quarter price of $1.42 per lb.Meanwhile, the London Metal Exchange three-month official nickel bid/offer spread was at $14,795/15,000 per tonne on Friday,...Read More
Indian flat steel producers are likely to roll over domestic prices of commercial-grade hot-rolled coil (HRC) for July sales.Officials from at least two major flat steel mills confirmed a rollover of HRC prices for July while pointing out that a reduction in HRC prices is unlikely because production costs for mills will rise to reflect the significant weakening of the rupee against the dollar. The...Read More
Zorba suppliers in the United States are pounding the pavement in search of new outlets, with evaporating demand from China creating a supply overhang that is beginning to erode some domestic secondary aluminium scrap prices."There's a huge overhang of zorba in the market. The China impact has caught up. There are people getting shipments rejected, so they're cautious. Containers are on hold, reje...Read More
Correspondent Dalton Barker recaps the week in the non-ferrous markets.Read More
Metal Bulletin rounds up some of the key news and price moves from the past week in the world's metal markets. Base metals The persistent widening backwardation on the July/August spread has pushed aluminium premiums in Rotterdam to their lowest this year, with bearish sentiment sweeping the market. Premiums for the supply of aluminium to main Japanese ports (MJP) for the third quarter of 2018 hav...Read More
The Midwest aluminium premium in the United States logged a second consecutive drop, with market participants pointing to the growing backwardation of aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange as the primary driver. American Metal Market assessed the spot P1020 premium at 20.5-21 cents per lb on Friday June 29, down from 21.25-21.5 cents per lb on June 26 and the lowest lev...Read More
Nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange have been volatile throughout June, with macroeconomic-driven price dips clouding investor sentiment. The three-month nickel price has fluctuated by $1,340 between a monthly low of $14,505 per tonne and the June high of $15,845 per tonne so far this month. Trade tensions and a strong dollar are weighing on nickel prices, while market participants are expe...Read More
Slab export prices from Brazil edged down as buyers continued struggling to get better-priced deals and competition among steelmakers to book orders to the United States was stiff. Metal Bulletin's weekly assessment of Brazil export slab was $570-585 per tonne fob on Friday June 29, down from $580-595 per tonne in the previous week. Offers from Brazilian mills were heard slightly below...Read More
Price trends for cold-rolled and coated flat-rolled steel in the United States are mixed on divergent market outlooks.While some industry sources think prices for value-added products will shoot higher with hot-rolled coil tags, others said gains could be less pronounced because there is more import competition on the cold-rolled and galvanized fronts than in the hot band arena.American Metal Mark...Read More
US hot-rolled coil prices resumed their upward march on a supply squeeze that could intensify as materially normally sourced from mills in Canada and Mexico leaves the domestic market, industry sources said.American Metal Market's hot-rolled coil index stands at $45.78 per hundredweight ($915.60 per ton), up 0.6% from $45.52 per cwt previously and up 4% from $44.03 per cwt at the beginning of the...Read More
Metal Bulletin reviews the major stories that have affected the steel market over the past week.Raw materials A cargo of premium hard coking coal fetched a significantly higher price on Thursday, though market participants have dismissed the transaction as one-off.China's coke prices have peaked, sources said this week, with downside concerns arising over the decline in export activity and th...Read More
Coated coil prices in Turkey increased in the week ended Friday June 29 but demand was moderate in the local market. Domestic prices One northern producer in Turkey increased its coated coil prices by $10-15 per tonne effective from Monday June 25. The producer is now offering 0.50mm hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) at $775 per tonne ex-works, up from $760 per tonne ex-works last week. Another nor...Read More