The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR?In a strong start to the year, January saw ore and alloy pricing gains across all markets priced by Fastmarkets - with the exception of Chinese silicon metal export prices, which retreated slightly last month after posting impressive gains in December 2020.The combination...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Fastmarkets analysts were invited to present our outlook for the coking coal market at Coaltrans Asia, held online on November 23-25. One of the key topics at the event was the trade tensions between China and Australia, which overtook Mongolia to become the largest coking coal exporter to China this year...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore remains the most bullish commodity of the year, with prices fuelled by Chinese demand and supply disruptions in Brazil, along with bullish sentiment. But prices are expected to come down because Brazilian exports have begun to recover, and have reached their highest level since the Brumadinho dam disaster in 2019. W...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In the iron ore market, supply issues including heavy rains at the start of the year, followed by staffing problems during the Covid-19 pandemic, have affected exports from Brazil. This has helped Australia gain a larger market share, but since June, Brazilian export volumes have returned to levels last seen before the...Read More
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
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Recent weeks have brought two key developments with regard to trade policy on stainless steel products that will be to the detriment of consumers.In China, the country's stainless steelmakers no longer enjoy a 13% export rebate as of May 1, reducing greatly their incentive to export and instead leading them to focus on supply...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices and margins for stainless steel producers have risen notably over the past few months in both Europe and the United States, but there are now signs that the rally is petering out.A clear reason for the halt to rising prices comes from the near 20% drop in nickel prices seen in late February/early March,...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.With nickel prices down by almost 20% over the space of around ten days during late February and early March, one might have been expecting us to be reporting sharply-lower prices of stainless steel, at least for the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel.This is not the case, at least in Europe and the Unite...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
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mainly lower this morning, Monday June 7, after the rally sparked by Friday’s worse-than-expected US employment report ran out of steam.* China’s imports climbed 51% and exports were up 28% year on year in May.* The US Dollar Index weakened after Friday’s disappointing employment report in the United States.Base metalsLME three-mo...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were mixed this morning. S&P 500 futures were unchanged in pre-opening trade.Visa gained $2.44 to $232.58 after Piper Sandler upgraded the stock from Neutral to Overweight.Biogen added $8.96 to $297.10 prior to news later today from the FDA on the company's application for approval of its Alzheimer's drug.Nutrien added $0.47 to US$65.00 after announcing a 500,000 ton...Read More
(Updates with exit poll) By Marco Aquino and Marcelo Rochabrun LIMA/TACABAMBA, Peru, June 6 (Reuters) - Conservativecandidate Keiko Fujimori is slightly ahead of socialist rivalPedro Castillo in Peru's nail-biting presidential runoff,according to an Ipsos exit poll released on Sunday evening.The statistical tie had Fujimori leading with 50.3% of thevote, while Castillo had 49.7%, within the margin...Read More
Aluminium billet premiums diverged on Friday June 4, with those in Germany and Thailand rising to all-time highs while those in Brazil and the United States slipped.Germany premium touches $1,000 per tonne for first timeThailand premium jumps to all-time highUS premium dips from all-time high levelBrazil premium softens in quieter marketEuropeEuropean billet premiums hit fresh all-time highs on Ju...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...Read More
London Metal Exchange base metals prices recovered swiftly at the close of Friday June 4 after lighter-than-expected US employment data kicked down the dollar index, following a Thursday session where decreases averaged 2.5%. Copper's three-month price rebounded to $9,955 per tonne on Friday at the close, a 1.7% rise from Thursday's $9,788.50 per tonne 5pm price. At the same time on Thursday, the...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing sessions in China, Europe and the United States on Friday June 4.China The ferro-silicon market became bullish following news that a major Malaysian ferro-silicon producer has issued a two-week production suspension, with supply shifting to China and suppliers' offers broadly holding offers firm. The export ferro-silicon price went higher due to tight spot availa...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing sessions in China, Europe and the United States on Friday June 4. China Seaborne low- and high-grade manganese ore markets jumped as much as 12.31% after miners raised offers for July shipment amid protracted high freight rates and a strengthening South African rand. Sentiment was boosted by news that Ningxia province, China's second largest silico-ma...Read More
Fastmarkets' copper concentrate treatment charge and refining charge (TC/RC) index gained further upward momentum on Friday June 4 amid limited spot buying interest from Chinese smelters who are undergoing maintenance work. The index is now at its highest level since late February when it was at $35.80 per tonne / 3.58 cents per lb. This week, a few spot parcels of standard concentrate w...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...Read More