The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese blast furnace (BF) utilization rates have stagnated and iron ore port stock volumes are rising, reaching their highest levels since March, which suggests that iron ore supply is becoming excessive while demand is not growing. Unsurprisingly, prices dropped last week and we expect the trend to continue. The market has...Read More
London Metal Exchange ring dealing members have a decision to make - whether to remain one or not.The LME has just announced it will reopen the open outcry trading floor, which was temporarily closed due to Covid-19, on September 6.Its plan, however, comes with a twist; some ring dealers say, a knife.The official prices - which the global trade and industry use as the global reference for physical...Read More
The steel mills in Bangladesh have picked up a raft of containerized scrap cargoes at higher prices over the past week, preferring boxes over bulk cargoes, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday June 17.Demand for bulk material was muted in the country following recent completed trades, rising bulk prices from the United States West Coast and continued congestion at the Bangladeshi port...Read More
The Italian steel distributors association, Assofermet, is calling for the complete removal of safeguard measures in Europe to protect steel users and consumers from the effects of the record high prices currently seen in the market. The association demanded the removal of the import controls on 26 steel products after the European Commission proposed extending the current measures for another thr...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view, including an upgrade to our aluminium price forecasts.Aluminium: Price forecasts raisedWe correctly expected the macro reflationary theme to raise the prices for all base metals but, with it being the base metal with by far the weakest fundamentals, we had expected the price of aluminium to underperform relative...Read More
Domestic steel rebar prices in Turkey have widened upward significantly, market sources said on Thursday June 17, while wire rod prices were stable.Demand was moderate in Turkey because of low levels of construction activity, sources told Fastmarkets.The country's scrap prices decreased recently, but the price falls were not sharp.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), Nort...Read More
Most producers of cobalt sulfate in China kept their offers high in the past week but buyers put up resistance and were cautious about placing orders, sources told Fastmarkets.Producers were asking for 71,000-73,000 yuan ($14,738-15,153) per tonne during the week, the same as a week earlier, but buyers were not willing to pay these amounts. As such, only a few deals were said to have been conclude...Read More
Copper's price fall and a higher US dollar index were the main factors in a decline in London Metal Exchange base metals prices for a fourth day on the morning of Thursday June 17, with most down by at least 1%.The three-month copper contract on the LME was at $9,459.50 per tonne at 9am London time on Thursday, down by 2.1% from its $9,667 per tonne closing price on Wednesday. The contract fell to...Read More
Coking coal prices increased in the cfr China market on Thursday June 17 amid active buying between North American suppliers and Chinese traders, sources said.The fob market, however, remained largely stable on firm demand, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $174.10 per tonne, up $0.24 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $283.37 per tonne,...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.We spoke in our previous tracker of stainless steel prices ending 2020 on a high. That trend has continued during early 2021 and, in fact, the upward rally in prices has increased its momentum.Compared with the monthly price increase of some 5% seen at the end of 2020, prices for grade-304 stainless steel in al...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The seamless pipe market continued its rise over the past month across most products and geographies. Sharp price increases of $135-140 per tonne were seen for oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and line pipe in the United States. In Europe and in the Middle East, increases were more modest, with the exception of a few product...Read More
Enabling large-scale expansion of solar power production capacity is a crucial part of the transition to a sustainable future for energy, but its prospects of growth rest on the current and future availability of key minerals and metals. Governments and organizations the world over are busy setting ambitious targets to cut carbon footprints and restrict global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsiu...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have held above $84 per hundredweight ($1,680 per short ton) for five consecutive business days, with mills struggling to meet buoyant demand, market participants said.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $84.22 per cwt ($1,684.40 per ton) on Thursday June 17, down by 0.75% from $84.86 per cwt on Wednesday June 16...Read More
China produced about 326.29 million tonnes of unprocessed coal in May 2021, up by a slight 0.6% year on year but down by 1.8% from April. Coal production has been capped by frequent inspections from central and local authorities at major coal mines in northern China in April and May to ensure safety measures and environmental protection measures are being followed, sources said. Some mines which h...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday June 17 that are worth another look.Vale is testing the use of unmanned trains at its Mariana iron ore complex to transport ore to the Timbopeba plant in a bid to reverse a recent state-ordered stoppage, it said on...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in China's domestic market edged higher on Thursday June 17 while the ferrous complex rose across the board on supply concerns, sources told Fastmarkets.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,480-5,500 yuan ($853-856) per tonne, up by 20-40 yuan per tonne.Spot prices climbed up on Thursday, while the most-traded HRC contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange clawed back about 90...Read More
Technology entrepreneur Elon Musk once described the ongoing use of fossil fuels and their generation of a vast carbon footprint as "the dumbest experiment in human history."Not everyone will agree with his assessment of the petroleum, gas and coal sectors, which have powered the world's growth for decades. Nonetheless, the twin goals of supply chain security and sustainability are now driving a t...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 30 points in pre-opening trade.Volume on U.S. equity, futures and options exchanges is expected to surge. Today is "quadruple witching day" when June equity and index options and futures expire. Adobe added $10.54 to $561.90 after reporting higher than consensus second quarter revenues and earnings. Target on the stoc...Read More
Rebounds were under way in the base metals complex in London this morning, Friday June 18, while in Shanghai the base metals mostly reflected the weakness seen on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday.* The more hawkish stance from the United States Federal Reserve on Wednesday lifted the dollar but has weighed on sentiment...* ...as has China’s decision to release state reserves of copper, a...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices continued dropping on Thursday June 17, but the pace of the decline was much slower after a pick-up in futures values driven by market participant expectations of a fall in supplies.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,970-5,000 yuan ($773-778) per tonne, down by 10 yuan per tonneThe Work Safety Commission of China's State Council has sent teams to steel mills to check...Read More