Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday July 1 that are worth another look.Brazilian exports of iron ore rose by 12.19% in June this year compared with the corresponding month of 2020, despite Vale closing down part of a large complex in southeastern Brazil, according to...Read More
The Turkish long steel export market remained quiet this week, keeping prices stable, market participants said on Thursday July 1.Long steelmakers in the country continued to offer rebar for exports at $730-750 per tonne fob on actual weight basis.There was only one small export trade heard in the week to July 1. A...Read More
The German subsidiary of Blackstone Resources AG is to increase its lithium-ion battery production capacity tenfold, the company said.According to the Switzerland-based holding company, Blackstone Technology will increase its lithium-ion battery manufacturing capacity to 500 MWh per year at its D??beln site in Saxony by 2022. The batteries are made using the company's own 3D-printing...Read More
The United Kingdom has extended safeguard measures against imported steel for three years - until June 30, 2024 - the UK Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) said on June 30."The tariff-rate quota is an extension of the tariff-rate quota imposed by the European Union on behalf of the United Kingdom and other countries or territories that had effect in the United...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday July 1 that are worth another look.Brazilian exports of iron ore rose by 12.19% in June this year compared with the corresponding month of 2020, despite Vale closing down part of a large complex in southeastern Brazil, according to...Read More
Aqua Metals has signed a letter of intent with ACME Metal Enterprise to deploy and license the US company's lead recycling equipment at its facility in Keelung, Taiwan, the companies said.The agreement gives the two companies 60 days to finalize the deal and includes terms for licensing and a phased deployment of Aqua Metals' AquaRefining technology, which is a room temperature, water-based proces...Read More
Turkish steel mills have continued their deep-sea scrap purchases at fairly stable prices, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday July 1.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo comprising 14,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) at $504.50 per tonne cfr. This was the third deep-sea deal heard so far this week, with another two...Read More
Iron ore prices went up on Thursday July 1 and there was market chatter about a crude steel production limit for 2021 in certain Chinese provinces, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $219.32 per tonne, up $5.24 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $221.75 per tonne, up $3.90 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $182.51 per...Read More
The price of steel billet exported from the Commonwealth of Independent States via the Black Sea fell further on Thursday July 1, due to an ongoing lack of interest from buyers in most destinations.Fastmarkets' daily steel billet index, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was calculated at $625 per tonne on July 1, down by $5 per tonne day on day.An offer from one Ukrainian producer was heard...Read More
Indonesia - the world's biggest tin exporter - is imposing a partial lockdown from July 3 to July 20 due to the country's surge in Covid-19 infections.The lockdown will begin just days after neighboring Malaysia - the world's second-biggest tin exporter - extended its pandemic-related lockdown, which was supposed to end on June 28.Both lockdowns come during an acute global shortage of tin that has...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday July 1 that are worth another look.Brazilian exports of iron ore rose by 12.19% in June this year compared with the corresponding month of 2020, despite Vale closing down part of a large complex in southeastern Brazil, according to...Read More
China's tungsten market is experiencing a tight supply of concentrate and ammonium paratungstate (APT), pushing prices for both products upward and leading some participants to expect the market to begin a new uptrend.The supply shortage has forced Chinese APT exporters to either raise their offer prices or suspend trading entirely.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for tungsten APT 88.5% WO3 mi...Read More
Strong gains for the US dollar, and manufacturing data out of Japan and China that was weaker than expected, sent base metal prices on the London Metal Exchange lower on Thursday July 1, with zinc leading the complex downward.The US Dollar Index hit a high of 92.55 on Thursday, the highest since April 6 and up by 0.8% since the start of the week.But the three-month price for zinc was down by 1.2%...Read More
Iron ore prices went up on Thursday July 1 and there was market chatter about a crude steel production limit for 2021 in certain Chinese provinces, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $219.32 per tonne, up $5.24 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $221.75 per tonne, up $3.90 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $182.51 per...Read More
Chinese steel mills in several provinces have been instructed to lower their production rates this week for environmental reasons, thereby reducing demand for raw materials, sources said on Thursday July 1."The production cuts are not limited to the Tangshan area now. Mills in Anhui, Shandong, Zhejiang, Hunan, Shanxi, and Gansu provinces have all received instructions to keep their production rate...Read More
Japanese scrap export prices continued to increase over the past week on strengthening demand for high-grade material in Japan and South Korea, sources told Fastmarkets."Korean and Japanese mills want the premier grades so the gap between H2 and Shindachi and heavy scrap (HS) keeps rising," a Japanese scrap trader said on Wednesday June 30.Offers for Shindachi busheling were heard at ?62,200-62,3...Read More
Following a three-month consultation, Fastmarkets has adjusted its iron ore index methodology to increase the transparency and predictability of its process for incorporating "floating price" information.This follows a proposal made in April for the refinement of the methodology to include data on floating prices - whereby the transaction price is determined by the index that a particular cargo is...Read More
Domestic hot-rolled coil prices in China extended their gains on Thursday July 1, with sustained expectations of production curbs in the second half of 2021 sending HRC futures to their highest in two weeks.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,460-5,500 yuan ($845-851) per tonne, up by 40 yuan per tonne from 5,420-5,460 yuan. The most-traded HRC contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose to - 5...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil across Europe were largely stable on Thursday July 1 while trading in the spot market remained limited, sources told Fastmarkets.Long lead times, exhausted credit lines among customers and the approaching vacation season contributed to a softening of buying interest, sources said. Most European buyers were doing hand-to-mouth purchases for limited tonnages this...Read More
Coking coal prices diverged on Thursday July 1, with cfr prices reversing amid expectations of easing domestic supply tightness in July and fob prices continuing to increase due to restocking demand, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $191.80 per tonne, up $1.48 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $306.59 per tonne, down $0.94 per tonneHard...Read More