Iron ore prices dropped on Friday July 2 on depressed market sentiment and a possible crude steel output cut in several areas which could weaken demand for iron ore, sources said. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $217.98 per tonne, down $1.34 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $219.57 per tonne, down $2.18 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe slipped further on Friday July 2 following a slowdown in trading, sources told Fastmarkets.Buyers opted to limit purchases while assessing the market trend. Long lead times from domestic producers, sufficient stocks among buyers for the next couple of months, and exhausted credit lines as a result of high prices for finished steel, have all co...Read More
The United Kingdom market for inter-merchant light iron scrap was steady for the second consecutive week to Friday July 2, with relatively low availability and firm demand from steelmakers supporting prices.UK scrap generation, which has been recovering heavy losses from 2020 when heavy industry was affected by Covid-related restrictions, is set to drop again this summer due to cuts in car manufac...Read More
Turkey secured up a fourth deep-sea steel scrap purchase at a discount, compared with its previous three previous cargo buys, in the week to Friday July 2, while activity in other global markets was comparatively subdued.Turkey secured four deep-sea cargoes, from Europe and the United StatesUS exporters kept export prices above $500 per tonne; international mills were forced to compete with the vi...Read More
The availability of significant volumes of lower-priced induction furnace (IF) steel billet in the Philippines import market has led to a cooling of interest in higher-priced blast furnace (BF) billet, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday July 2.IF billet from Thailand was heard sold at $665 per tonne cfr Manila earlier this week, with an offer for Vietnam-origin material heard later at $663 per ton...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were broadly up at the close of trading on Friday July 2 following better-than-expected data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were broadly up at the close of trading on Friday July 2 following better-than-expected data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.Total nonfarm payroll empl...Read More
Monthly European alloy steel surcharges for grade-316 stainless steel have surged for July because of a sharp increases in the price of molybdenum, Fastmarkets heard on Friday July 2.Fastmarkets' calculation of stainless steel cold-rolled sheet 316 2mm alloy surcharge domestic, Europe was ?,?2,902-2,946 ($3,439-3,492) per tonne for July, up by ?,?242-271 per tonne from June.The substantial increas...Read More
Expensive logistics, uncertainty about the recently announced Russian export tax and generally strong fundamentals pushed global aluminium billet premiums to fresh all-time highs in the week ended Friday July 2.Europe premiums hit all-time highs, with expectations of further increasesThailand billet premium rises on tight regional supplyExpensive US freight drives premiums upwardPremiums in Brazil...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices fell at the end of the week after a fresh cargo from the Baltic Sea came to light, market participants told Fastmarkets on Friday July 2.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked the Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $495 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of bonus at $510 per tonne cfr, late on Thursday July 1.This was fourth the deep-sea...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang, and...Read More
The United States' pig iron import market was muted during the week to Friday July 2 because buyers preferred to wait to see the effects on the market of the announcement of an export duty by Russia.Russia is the largest global pig iron supplier. It intends to impose a temporary export duty on pig iron at the level of 15% but no less than $115 per tonne, to be effective from August 1 until Decembe...Read More
Hot-dipped galvanized and pre-painted galvanized coil prices decreased in Turkey during the week to Friday July 2, with demand weakening ahead of national holidays, sources told Fastmarkets.Market participants expect reduced market activity in the second half of July because of the national holidays taking place on July 15, which is Democracy Day in Turkey, and July 19-24 for the Ei al-Adha holida...Read More
China's Wuxi Stainless Steel Exchange will launch trading of its new battery-grade lithium carbonate contract on Monday July 5. The contract will be the first of its kind to be launched by a Chinese exchange for the battery raw material, the exchange has announced.The front-month Wuxi contract for physically delivered lithium carbonate will be October 2021, putting the guiding opening price at 88...Read More
Hot-rolled and cold-rolled coil prices decreased in Turkey during the week ending Friday July 2 before the long holiday starts in the country on July 15, sources told Fastmarkets.July 15 is Democracy Day in Turkey and July 19-24 will be the Ei al-Adha holiday, so market participants expect reduced activity in the second half of July.Low priced sales from Russia to several destinations during the w...Read More
Aluminium and copper prices on the London Metal Exchange remained firm during morning trading on Friday July 2 amid low-volume trading. The three-month aluminium price was most recently at $2,527 per tonne, up by $15 per tonne from $2,512 per tonne at the close of trading on Thursday. The contract has trading in a tight range of $2,506-2,527 per tonne on Friday morning. LME aluminium stock levels...Read More
Prices for shredded steel scrap imported into India and Pakistan rose in the week to Friday July 2, with trading activity focusing on the Pakistan market over India. In the Pakistan imported scrap market, sellers achieved higher shredded prices this week following solid rebar sales. Fastmarkets calculated its weekly steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Port Qasim, Pakistan at $539.51 per...Read More
Spot activity in the Vietnamese ferrous scrap import market remained extremely thin amid poor demand from steel mills, sources told Fastmarkets.There was a transaction confirmed for an August-shipment cargo at $484 per tonne cfr southern Vietnam, against offers at $490-500 per tonne cfr Vietnam.Bids were at $480 per tonne cfr Vietnam."It is very, very quiet this week because of the large bid-...Read More
The price of technical-grade lithium carbonate in China rose for the second time since mid-June this week, amid active trader restocking, thereby improving sentiment in the battery-grade chemicals market, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' lithium carbonate 99% Li2CO3 min, technical and industrial grade, spot price range exw domestic China edged up to 79,000-80,000 yuan ($12,189-12,344) per ton...Read More
With automakers switching to producing vehicles with batteries reliant on metals such as cobalt and lithium, the expectation for lead has been that prices will follow the downward fortunes of the internal combustion engine.But recently that has not been the case; lead's cash price on the London Metal Exchange reached a three-year high of $2,368 per tonne on Wednesday June 30, crowning nine straigh...Read More
Base metals prices on both the London Metal Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed this morning, Friday July 2, and were looking quite divergent. Base metalsLME three-month copper ($9,314 per tonne) and aluminium ($2,516 per tonne) were up by 0.5% and 0.3% respectively, while the rest were down by an average of 0.3%, led by a 0.7% fall in nickel ($17,970 per tonne). In recent days,...Read More