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
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.As we approach the end of the first half of 2021, steel markets in Europe and the United States continue to heat up. This six-month period is largely unprecedented, with both steel prices and steelmakers' margins hitting a number of new record highs throughout.The rally is likely nearing its end, however, with global steel ou...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
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
An overview of the consumer electronics markets and their latest price moves.Janie Davies, Cristina Belda and...Read More
The entire batch of 50,000 tonnes of reserved aluminium put up for sale by auction from Chinese state reserves was sold within seconds of bidding being opened at 8am local time on Monday July 5, sources have told Fastmarkets.This was only the first batch to be made available for purchase, and comprised only 10% of the amount expected to be sold.Bidding began at a price of 15,952 yuan ($2,465) per...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 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
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
The Cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, % payable of Fastmarkets' standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) 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 Cobalt hydroxide p...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
Rebar prices in the south of Europe widened upwards in the week to July 7, moved by bullish offers from Spanish producers, while the Italian market was generally flat and digesting previous rises, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Southern Europe was ?,?760-830 ($900-983) per tonne on Wednesday, widening from&n...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
Singapore is well-placed to continue playing a growing role in the global commodities market amid the possible likelihood of Covid-19 turning endemic, the Singapore Exchange's head of commodities, William Chin, told Fastmarkets in an interview ahead of Singapore International Ferrous Week 2021."Covid-19 brought the entire commodities industry into uncharted waters and threw out century-old playboo...Read More
All the world's major coking coal importers reduced their purchases in 2020 amid steel production cuts and lockdowns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.China, Japan, South Korea, the European Union and India imported a total of 217.76 million tonnes of coking coal last year, down by 10.1% from 2019....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
Xinfa group's alumina refinery in Xiaoyi city, Shanxi province closed an operation line with a capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per year last week due to a bauxite shortage, several sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 7.The refinery has a total capacity of 3.6 million tonnes and has run at full capacity since May.Xin'an Chemical alumina refinery, a subsidy of Hangzhou Jinjiang group located i...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
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 Wednesday July 7.The figure was lower month on month, however, and supply disruptions have led Anfavea to reduce its estimate for the sector's full-year 2021 performance.Vehicle...Read More