US Steel has its best days ahead, the company's top executive said during an earnings call on Friday July 30."We can now truly say, US Steel... has its best days ahead. We can't get to the future fast enough," company president and chief executive officer David Burritt said on Friday's call.Burritt also said that the strength in steel prices and demand would continue, and predicted all-time r...Read More
Domestic steel scrap prices in Turkey dropped during the week to Monday August 2, in line with the market for imported scrap, market participants told Fastmarkets.Turkish steel mills continued to book deep-sea scrap cargoes at a slow pace last week amid limited finished steel demand.Fastmarkets' index for steel scrap, heavy melting scrap 1&2 (80:20 mix), United States origin, cfr Turkey was calcul...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices fell sharply on Monday August 2 due to market expectations of lighter production restrictions in some regions, sources told Fastmarkets.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,200-5,230 yuan ($804-809) per tonne, down by 140 yuan per tonneThe Politburo of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee said the country will make overall arrangements and issue a national...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were generally trending higher this morning, Monday August 2, with copper the metal that seems to be struggling the most. Base metals trading on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gave a mixed performance, however.Chinese equities rebound this morning after last week's weaknessUS Senate makes progress on $1 trillion infrastructure billChina's official man...Read More
US Steel is mulling over the possibility of adding pig iron equipment to one of its blast furnaces, a top executive said during an earnings call on Friday July 30.Analysts asked executives at US Steel about its subsidiary Big River Steel's raw materials strategy during a second-quarter earnings call."The thing that keeps mini-mills up at night is their metallic strategy and where are they going to...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States came close to crossing the $94-per-hundredweight ($1,880-per-short-ton) threshold once again, with several mill offers made in the mid- to high $90-per-cwt range reported by market sources.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $93.92 per cwt ($1,878.40 per ton) on Monday August 2, up by 0.23% from $93.70 per cwt on...Read More
Glencore has purchased a 9.99% stake in junior mining company Hot Chili for A$14.4 million ($10.62 million), the latter said on Monday August 2.The agreement gives Hot Chili, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and operates assets in Chile, the financing to complete a feasibility study for...Read More
Zinc and lead concentrate treatment charges (TCs) rose toward the end of July due to more mined tonnage hitting the market and pushing terms higher.Fastmarkets' assessment of zinc spot concentrate TC, cif China was $78-90 per tonne on Friday July 30, up from $75-88 per tonne three weeks earlier, and its highest level since last October.Terms have gradually increased since Chinese smelters took ext...Read More
Indian producer Vedanta Aluminium has purchased 354 million units of renewable energy for the 2022 financial year, it announced on Monday August 2.The energy, which will be from a mix of solar and non-solar renewable sources, will be used to help power aluminium production at its Jharsugada smelter in Odisha, India, to help the company achieve its carbon mitigation goals while producing "green," v...Read More
Hydrometallurgy company Hellenic Minerals has completed the construction of a nickel sulfate hexahydrate facility in Cyprus, paving the way for initial production there.The plant in Skouriotissa, about 30km west of the island nation's capital, Nicosia, is thought to be on the site of the world's oldest copper mine. It was expected to reach output of 44,000 tonnes per year of laterite ore, containi...Read More
Four unions representing some 3,500 miners in Chile rejected the latest wage offers made by their companies in the week to August 2, initiating government-led mediation processes to avoid potential strikes, sources told Fastmarkets. The largest was the Number 1 union at Escondida, representing some 2,200 workers, who rejected BHP's latest wage offer and voted to go ahead with a strike on July 31.&...Read More
The recent Covid-19 outbreak across southeast Asia is weighing on Thai aluminium billet demand in the region after five months of price rises, sources told Fastmarkets. On-site labor restrictions in Thailand and the related closure of several extruder facilities in both Thailand and Vietnam due to Covid-19 restrictions have caused orders to temporarily stall followed by stock inventories inching u...Read More
There were higher prices across the base metals complex during morning trading on the London Metal Exchange on Monday August 2, but bullish sentiment was capped by lower-than-expected Chinese economic data.Over the weekend, China's manufacturing growth was reported by the National Bureau of Statistics at a 17-month low of 50.4 in July, compared with 50.9 previously and expectations of 50.8, Bands...Read More
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....Read More
The Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lbtrade 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....Read More
The price for manganese flake has been rising since May this year because of the controls on the use of electricity during summer in several provinces in China, as well as production cuts at major manganese flake producers and strong demand from the steel industry, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday August 2.Fastmarkets' latest price assessment for manganese 99.7%, electrolytic manganese flake, fo...Read More
Prices for domestic and imported merchant bar quality (MBQ) steel in the United States rose in July, when demand continued to outpace supply, extending lead times and depleting inventories across the supply chain.Fastmarkets' monthly assessment for steel bar 2 x 2 x 1/4 -inch angle merchant products, fob mill US was $55.80 per cwt ($1,116 per ton) on Friday July 30, up by 3.72% from $53.80 per c...Read More
Prices for carbon steel plate in the United States strengthened for a second week while the latest wave of mill price increases ripples through the market.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US climbed to an all-time high of $82 per hundredweight ($1,640 per short ton) on Friday July 30 from $80 per cwt on July 23. The assessment has more than triple...Read More
Improved shipments and record-high hot band prices pushed US Steel's second-quarter net income to $1.012 billion, in contrast to a net loss of nearly $589 million in the equivalent quarter last year.The mini-mill segment generated $324 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) and had a 36% margin in the quarter, the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker said in an&...Read More
ArcelorMittal's forthcoming hot-strip mill in Mexico will change the profile of the steelmaker's Mexican flat steel business, the company's chief executive officer said during an investor call to discuss its second-quarter earnings on Thursday July 29.The new Mexican mill - which will add 2.5 million tonnes per year of hot-rolled coil production capacity to the current 4-million-tpy slab capacity...Read More