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
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
Chinese battery materials producer GEM's subsidiary company will invest in a battery-grade high-purity nickel and cobalt salts project with an annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes in Jinmen, Hubei province, the company announced on Wednesday June 30.Jinmen GEM High-purity Chemical Material, subsidiary of GEM, will invest 310 million yuan ($48 million) into the project to form production lines using r...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
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
Steel market participants in Europe expect the European Commission (EC) to begin an anti-dumping investigation into imports of hot-rolled coil from India now that a complaint has been filed, they told Fastmarkets on Thursday July 1.Two market sources said that European steel industry association Eurofer has lodged a complaint with the EC in order to start an anti-dumping investigation.Eurofer decl...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
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
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
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.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb at 22.90-23.70...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 10 points in pre-opening trade.Index futures moved higher following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for June Non-farm Payrolls was an increase to 700,000 from 559,000 in May. Actual was 850,000. Consensus for June Unemployment Rate was a drop to 5.6% from 5.8% in May. Actual was an increase to 5.9%....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
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
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
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
Premiums for tin ingots in Europe and the United States continued their rise to new highs in the fortnight to June 29, with freight and trucking costs and delays still the main issue pressuring premiums upward, sources told Fastmarkets. Premiums in Asia were stable, with the high London Metal Exchange price diverting participants away from the spot market. China's Yunnan Tin, the world's lar...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday June 30 that are worth another look.BHP announced in 2018 that the depletion of its 80-million-tonnes-per-year Yandi mine in its Western Australia iron ore operations would begin from the second half of 2021. Fastmarkets explores how the low-grade fines landscape...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices remained flat on Wednesday June 30 on weak demand while the futures price gained.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,860-4,880 yuan ($752-755) per tonne, unchanged day on dayThe purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the steel industry was 45.1 points in June, down by 1 point from May, according to the China Federation...Read More
A shipment of 4,000 tonnes of imported scrap booked by major Chinese steelmaker Hebei Iron & Steel (HBIS) cleared customs checks at Jingtang port in Tangshan, Hebei in early June, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday June 30. This is their second cargo of Japanese heavy scrap (HS) since China officially eased restrictions on scrap imports in January 2021. Their first cargo of 2,092 tonnes cleared...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday June 30 that are worth another look.BHP announced in 2018 that the depletion of its 80-million-tonnes-per-year Yandi mine in its Western Australia iron ore operations would begin from the second half of 2021. Fastmarkets explores how the low-grade fines landscape...Read More