Tin was the best performer on the London Metal Exchange on June 8 due to its constrained global supply situation being set to worsen amid disruption from MSC, while the rest of the complex finished positively on afternoon US trade despite a broader consolidation.LME tin's three-month price closed at $31,223 per tonne on Tuesday, jumping up by 2.3% from Monday's closing price of $30,525 per tonne,...Read More
Strong demand and tight supply supported aluminium premiums at recent multi-year highs across the globe on Tuesday June 8, although levels for those in South Korea were unchanged for two months.End-user interest and insufficient supply offset London Metal Exchange backwardation in Rotterdam Japanese premium holds at two-year high on fresh deals South Korea stable for eight weeks amid little market...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories from Tuesday June 8 that are worth another look.A rise in Covid-19 cases in China's Guangdong province in recent weeks has led to tighter controls and rigorous testing at the huge Yantian International Container Terminal (YICT), causing extended delays...Read More
Buyers of steel rebar and billet in the United Arab Emirates preferred to wait before placing new orders because of uncertainty about prices during the week ended Tuesday June 8, sources have told Fastmarkets.Local rebar producers were expected to announce new prices next week.Local retail prices for rebar were currently lower than those offered by local producers. In any case, most buyers have hi...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil were mostly stable across Europe on Tuesday June 8, on support from a continuing shortage of material, sources told Fastmarkets.The availability of domestic HRC has remained tight but lead times are no longer being extended, sources told Fastmarkets.Buyers have also been cautious about making new deals in fear of being left with stocks of high-priced coil if pri...Read More
The United States government has published a sweeping review of US supply chains, proposing measures to increase domestic production of a number of key minerals and products. These measures include a proposed tariff on neodymium magnet imports.In February 2021, recently inaugurated US President Joe Biden indicated that there would be a government review of the resilience of critical minerals suppl...Read More
Hot-rolled coil import prices to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were mostly stable during the week to Tuesday June 8, but cold-rolled coil prices decreased and the hot-dipped galvanized coil import price spreads to the UAE widened, sources told Fastmarkets.The main reason for the decrease in CRC prices was low prices from China, market participants said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessm...Read More
Steel billet producers in the Commonwealth of Independent States have kept their offer prices unchanged despite limited trading activity, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday June 8.There was market chatter about a sale of Ukraine-origin billet to the Philippines at $635-640 per tonne fob (about $695-700 per tonne cfr) this week, but no details were released by the time of publication.A bid for billet fro...Read More
Mexican ferrous scrap prices continued to increase during the week ended Friday June 4, with demand for steel and raw materials remaining strong.Some scrap buyers accepted price adjustments to their buying prices for certain grades, with sellers using higher-priced deals to leverage negotiations with buyers who insisted on lower prices. As a result, more deals were reported at higher lev...Read More
The government of Belgium's southern Wallonia region has decided to give a loan to Liberty Steel that will allow the company to run its Liege-Dudelange plants until new owners can be found, according to a statement by the vice-president of the government of Wallonia, Willy Borsus."The objective of the region is to be able to examine all avenues that would allow one or more buyers to come forward,...Read More
Brazilian vehicle production rose by 348% in May 2021, compared with the corresponding period last year, when the Covid-19 pandemic led to several plant closures and resulted in output plummeting, national carmakers' association Anfavea said on Tuesday June 8.The country produced 192,843 units last month, significantly up from 43,080 units in May 2020. The May volume also represented a 1.01% incre...Read More
The US Commerce Department has ruled that imports of corrosion-resistant (Core) steel products completed in Malaysia using carbon hot-rolled steel and/or cold-rolled steel flat products manufactured in Taiwan circumvented anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Taiwanese substrate.The material will be assigned anti-dumping rates as high as 199.43% and subsidy rates as high as 39.05%, Commerce ru...Read More
The United States government has published a sweeping review of US supply chains, proposing measures to increase domestic production of a number of key minerals and products. These measures include a proposed tariff on neodymium magnet imports.In February 2021, recently inaugurated US President Joe Biden indicated that there would be a government review of the resilience of critical minerals suppl...Read More
A return to trading in Europe's last open-outcry venue might be short-lived, with major brokers skeptical of a future making markets on the London Metal Exchange's "ring" even after the bourse said it would reopen in September.The LME said on Tuesday June 8 that trading would resume on the boisterous London venue, which in various forms has been a center point for global metal marke...Read More
Iron ore prices pushed up on Tuesday June 8, despite sintering restrictions being imposed on steelmakers in China's steelmaking hub Tangshan, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $209.50 per tonne, up $7.08 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $211.81 per tonne, up $7.63 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $182.87 per tonne,...Read More
Turkish steelmakers resumed their deep-sea scrap purchases to refresh stocks after some fresh finished steel sales were concluded, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday June 8.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $501 per tonne and bonus at $511 per tonne cfr. The cargo breakdown was not clear at the time of publication.This was the...Read More
ArcelorMittal has made a $10 million investment in renewable energy technology company Heliogen from its innovation fund for sustainability, it announced on Tuesday June 8.The XCarb innovation fund is part of ArcelorMittal's wider sustainability initiative, launched to drive progress toward carbon-neutral steel production.In addition to the $10 million investment, ArcelorMittal and Heliogen have s...Read More
Ferrous scrap exports from the United States increased by a marginal 1.07% month on month in April, according to the latest data from the US Census Bureau.Ferrous scrap exports totaled 1.63 million in April, compared with 1.61 million tonnes in March and almost 1.36 million tonnes in February.Exports to Turkey, usually the United States' biggest customer, dropped by more than half month over month...Read More
Imports of steelmaking raw materials into the United States fell by 14.56% month on month in April, primarily due to reduced inflows of direct-reduced iron (DRI) over the period, according to the latest data from the US Census Bureau.Raw materials imports totaled 901,825 tonnes in April, compared with 1.06 million tonnes in March and 851,028 tonnes in February.US imports of ferrous scrap...Read More
The current upward momentum in pricing in the steel market should continue in the third quarter with support from short supply and solid demand, buoying an already optimistic market, the International Rebar Producers & Exporters Association (Irepas) said on June 4.EuropeRebar prices reached new highs during the second quarter of 2021 on support from long lead times, strong demand and limited impor...Read More