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
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
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
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
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 London Metal Exchange will enhance its off-warrant stock reporting, including limiting the warranting of metal that has not previously been disclosed in off-warrant stock reports, the exchange said on Tuesday June 8.The responses to the LME's discussion paper were generally supportive of the exchange taking a greater physical market role with respect to the off-warrant stock report, the LME sa...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.United States sheet prices hit record highs again in May, with upward momentum carrying into June. Actual US HRC prices averaged $1,712 per tonne in May, largely in line with our forecast of $1,698 per tonne. Strong underlying supply-and-demand conditions both in the US and globally are supporting prices as well as long lead...Read More
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
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
Imports of used beverage can (UBC) scrap and industrial aluminium scrap into the United States rose 9.49% month on month to 36,990 short tons in April from 33,784 tons in March, according to the most recent data from the US Census Bureau.The United States imported 24,287 tons of UBC scrap in April, up 1.52% from 23,924 tons in March, of which 10,283 tons (or...Read More
The London Metal Exchange's electronic trading system is up to the job of discovering closing prices with any misalignments to be ironed out via a volume-weighted average price (VWAP) methodology, chief executive officer Matthew Chamberlain said. LMESelect's technical functionality had been considered in great detail by the exchange board, acknowledging that outright three-month prices work well e...Read More
Sherritt International has deferred its planned full-facility maintenance shutdown of its nickel-cobalt refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, to August from the previously scheduled June to mitigate the risk of Covid-19 on employee and contractor health and safety, the company said. The full-facility shutdown occurs every six years, will last around 11 days, and will include all of the refinery...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 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
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
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 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
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
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
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