Spot prices for standard and alloy grade cobalt have continued to trend higher since the beginning of this week, driven by aggressive offers and a pickup in end-user demand in Europe and the United States, Fastmarkets heard on Wednesday July 7.Available spot units remained in tight hands, with producers' availability low and traders holding back their offers in expectation of further price increas...Read More
Turkish steel mills returned to the deep-sea scrap import markets with a flurry of bookings from the Baltic Sea and the United States, market participants told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 7.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a cargo from the US, comprising 30,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $498 per tonne cfr.And in the Marmara region, a steel mill also booked a US cargo, comprising HMS 1&...Read More
China's new trend pf setting out unwritten rules for its commodities industries and communicating them verbally will be a key method to watch out for in the future, market sources told Fastmarkets."Unofficial communications to steel mills are increasingly [coming] via provincial and township authorities [and are], not written out clearly as announcements," an iron ore trader in eastern China told...Read More
China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) issued the country's 14th five-year development plan for a circular economy on Wednesday July 7, according to a notice published on the commission's website.The plan highlights the importance of promoting economical and intensive use of resources, and building a circular industrial system as well as a recycling system of waste materials in...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were up across the board this morning, Wednesday July 7, suggesting dip buying after Tuesday's weakness that saw copper, aluminium and nickel fall by 2%, or more.Tuesday's drop in the ISM services purchasing managers index (PMI) to 60.1, from 64, was partly blamed for the day's weaker markets......as was the jump in the US Dollar IndexBase metalsLME...Read More
Spot prices for standard and alloy grade cobalt have continued to trend higher since the beginning of this week, driven by aggressive offers and a pickup in end-user demand in Europe and the United States, Fastmarkets heard on Wednesday July 7.Available spot units remained in tight hands, with producers' availability low and traders holding back their offers in expectation of further price increas...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday July 7 that are worth another look.Automotive production in Brazil rose by 69.58% in June over the corresponding month in 2020, on the industry's recovery from stoppages called during the Covid-19 pandemic last year, automakers' association Anfavea said on July 7....Read More
Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe and in Italy were largely stable on Wednesday July 7 at high levels, despite a market slowdown and increased availability of the material, sources told Fastmarkets.Buyers have been holding back from making new deals, preferring instead to take the time to assess the price trend before making orders for material that would be delivered at...Read More
China's new trend pf setting out unwritten rules for its commodities industries and communicating them verbally will be a key method to watch out for in the future, market sources told Fastmarkets."Unofficial communications to steel mills are increasingly [coming] via provincial and township authorities [and are], not written out clearly as announcements," an iron ore trader in eastern China told...Read More
Turkish long steel producer Ekinciler Demir ve ??elik San AS is one step closer to being a value-added steel producer with its new billet caster, the company told Fastmarkets on Tuesday July 6.The new billet casting line will enable the company to produce higher-quality billet to be used for high- and low-carbon wire rod, seamless pipe, angles, IPN- and HBN-grade sections production. These ar...Read More
Italian steelmaker AFV Beltrame will invest ?,?300 million ($355 million) in a greenfield steel rebar and wire rod facility in Romania that will focus on limiting the environmental impact of its steelmaking activities, the company said on Wednesday July 7.Specifically, the project is hoped to have the lowest emissions of any steel plant in the world in terms of greenhouse gases and suspended dust...Read More
Domestic steel wire rod prices in the south of Europe remained largely flat in the week to Wednesday July 7, with buyers reluctant to accept higher prices and postponing purchases, sources told Fastmarkets.Prices are not expected to fall in the short term, sources said, because supplies are still tight and feedstock costs continue to rise.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (me...Read More
Turkish steel mills returned to the deep-sea scrap import markets with a flurry of bookings from the Baltic Sea and the United States, market participants told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 7.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a cargo from the US, comprising 30,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $498 per tonne cfr.And in the Marmara region, a steel mill also booked a US cargo, comprising HMS 1&...Read More
China's new trend pf setting out unwritten rules for its commodities industries and communicating them verbally will be a key method to watch out for in the future, market sources told Fastmarkets."Unofficial communications to steel mills are increasingly [coming] via provincial and township authorities [and are], not written out clearly as announcements," an iron ore trader in eastern China told...Read More
Fastmarkets is proposing to launch a fortnightly China pig iron import price assessment to enhance its growing editorial coverage of the Asian market for the steelmaking raw material.The new assessment will be for pig iron with maximum 1.25% manganese content and maximum 0.15% phosphorus content.Market sources expect China to import pig iron in increasing volumes due to its evolving steel industry...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday July 7 that are worth another look.Automotive production in Brazil rose by 69.58% in June over the corresponding month in 2020, on the industry's recovery from stoppages called during the Covid-19 pandemic last year, automakers' association Anfavea said on July 7....Read More
Prices rose in the Commonwealth of Independent States' export billet market in the week to Wednesday July 7 on limited offers from major suppliers and high deals in the week, sources told Fastmarkets.Market participants reported offers from Ukrainian mills at $650 per tonne fob Black Sea, up from $630-640 per tonne one week previously.Russian mills, particularly large mills, held back on exporting...Read More
Trading activity in the Iranian export steel billet market was quiet in the week to Wednesday July 7 because most mills have not finalized their tenders yet.Several market participants confirmed that Sirjan Jahan Steel was selling 20,000 tonnes of billet at $609 per tonne fob southern Iranian ports late last week, $1 per tonne lower than was reported earlier.Other mills kept their tenders open, in...Read More
Prices for steel hollow sections in Europe remained flat on Wednesday July 7 because stocks are replenished following the renewed import quota, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe was ?,?1,370-1,420 ($1,631-1,690) per tonne on July 7, unchanged week on week.Hot rolled coil, the feedstock for hollow sections, remain...Read More
Europe's third-quarter steel import quotas opened on Thursday July 1, but already some suppliers have absorbed a large proportion of the long steel allocation, repeating a similar scenario from the previous quarter.As a result, European independent traders and downstream steel users are once again left with no alternative to domestically produced steel and surging prices, sources told Fastmarkets....Read More