China's Hebei Iron & Steel Group (HBIS) and South Korea's Posco have signed a deal to establish a joint venture to produce automotive steel plate in China, according to a report from HBIS' official WeChat account published on Friday June 25. The planned new plant will have capacity to produce 900,000 tonnes per year of...Read More
Domestic prices for steel rebar in Russia's Central Federal district around Moscow rose in the week to June 28 on increased offers from local mills, sources told Fastmarkets.July offers from NLMK were heard at 72,500 ($1,004) roubles per tonne, up from 69,500 for June.Severstal was offering July-delivery rebar at 75,000 roubles per tonne cpt, sources said, unchanged from June.Tula Steel offered re...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil were rangebound on Monday June 28 after buyers held back from trading, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?1,189.20 ($1,419.30) per tonne on Monday, down by just ?,?1.94 from ?,?1,191.14 per tonne on Friday. The index was, however, up by ?,?18.20 per tonne week on week a...Read More
Russia has approved temporary export duties on non-ferrous metals and steel products, including hot-rolled coil, which will come into effect on August 1 this year - and this will cause a spike in the country's HRC exports in July, market sources have told Fastmarkets.The country is the fourth-largest global steel exporter, but its government has set a base duty rate of 15% or $115 per tonne on HRC...Read More
GFG Alliance and Liberty Steel's restructuring and transformation committee has announced its plans to restructure the group's steel businesses, the company said on Monday June 28."The developments [will] help to pave the way for a refinancing which will enable GFG [Alliance] to pay back creditors following the collapse of its main lender, Greensill Capital," the company said. "This in turn will a...Read More
Lithium iron phosphate batteries have recently regained their position as the preferred option among original equipment manufacturers in China, casting doubt on the forecast dominance of the alternative nickel-cobalt-manganese lithium-ion batteries in the country's electric vehicle battery supply chain.The situation has also raised questions about whether the change in sentiment would be mirrored...Read More
A Russian export tax on aluminium and other base metals levied to curb inflationary risk in the country has stirred expectations of further increases in an already bullish physical market.The Russian government approved temporary export duties Friday on 340 steel and non-ferrous metals sold outside the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which are set to take effect from August 1 through December 31....Read More
The domestic nickel pig iron (NPI) price rose in the week to Friday June 25 in an active spot market while the ferro-nickel price also went up due to a bullish stainless steel outlook, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets assessed the price of nickel pig iron, high-grade NPI content 10-15%, spot, ddp China at 1,200-1,210 yuan ($185.50-187.10) per nickel unit on Friday, up by 15-25 yuan (1.7%)...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday June 28 that are worth another look....Read More
Domestic prices for steel rebar in Russia's Central Federal district around Moscow rose in the week to June 28 on increased offers from local mills, sources told Fastmarkets.July offers from NLMK were heard at 72,500 ($1,004) roubles per tonne, up from 69,500 for June.Severstal was offering July-delivery rebar at 75,000 roubles per tonne cpt, sources said, unchanged from June.Tula Steel offered re...Read More
Finnish mining company Terrafame has announced that production has begun at its new battery chemicals plant in Soktamo, Finland, the company said on Monday June 28.Terrafame announced the ?,?240 ($286.44) million investment for the new plant in 2018, and have since worked on putting together the site's fully integrated production process - starting at the company's on-site mines and ending with pr...Read More
Treatment charges for lead concentrates have fallen to their lowest level for two years while terms for zinc concentrates have so far resisted further rises, Fastmarkets has heard.Fastmarkets' assessment of the lead spot concentrate TC, low silver, cif China, was $25-40 per tonne on Friday June 25, down from $40-55 per tonne a month previously.With prices high and demand for lead ingots said to be...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday June 28 that are worth another look....Read More
Tin was the best performer on the London Metal Exchange during trading on Monday June 28, while the rest of the complex was mixed at the start of the new week with particularly low volumes for copper's three-month contract. Tin's three-month price increased by 1.2% to $31,152 per tonne on Monday at the close from Friday's $30,774 per tonne price. The metal rose to as much as $31,220 per tonne dur...Read More
Treatment charges for lead concentrates have fallen to their lowest level for two years while terms for zinc concentrates have so far resisted further rises, Fastmarkets has heard.Fastmarkets' assessment of the lead spot concentrate TC, low silver, cif China, was $25-40 per tonne on Friday June 25, down from $40-55 per tonne a month previously.With prices high and demand for lead ingots said to be...Read More
Chinese cobalt producer Hanrui Cobalt has applied to launch an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, the company said on Friday June 25.The company aims to strengthen its leading position in the global cobalt industry and deepen upstream and downstream integration amid growing opportunities in the new energy vehicles (NEVs) sector driven by carbon neutral...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday June 28 that are worth another look....Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in China's domestic market traded within a narrower range on Monday June 28, with talks of production curbs underpinning futures prices.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,400-5,450 yuan ($836-844) per tonne, narrowing upward by 20 yuan per tonne from 5,380-5,450 yuan.The most-traded HRC contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange clawed back earlier losses to end the day slig...Read More
China is considering adding 5% across the board to existing export taxes on ferro-alloys from Thursday July 1, market sources told Fastmarkets, adding that if that happens manganese flake prices will rise.Manganese flake is extremely sensitive to what happens in China - since it produces 95% of the world's supply - and the spot price is already at a 13-year high in Europe and close to its highest...Read More
South Africa will move to an adjusted alert level 4 lockdown for 14 days from Monday June 28, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in an address to the nation on Sunday June 27. The move was in response to a massive resurgence of infections and continual mutation of the Covid-19 virus into new variants, according to Ramaphosa."The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reports that a third wa...Read More