Activity in the European hot-rolled coil market has been slow this week while buyers have preferred to hold back from new deals and proved reluctant to accept any further price increases.Buyers - already struggling to open credit lines due to the high prices of flat steel - chose to pause their purchases while monitoring China's coil market.Prices for coil in China have been decreasing over the pa...Read More
China's leading stainless steel producers, Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Tisco) and Baosteel Group, have lowered their ferro-chrome tender prices for June delivery by 50 yuan ($7.84) per tonne compared with the previous month.The latest high-carbon ferro-chrome tender prices released by Tisco and Baosteel on Friday May 28 were 7,250 yuan and 7,445 yuan per tonne respectively, slightly down from the 7,300...Read More
Fastmarkets' copper concentrate treatment charge/refining charge (TC/RC) index rose to above $30/3 cents for the first time since March. Fastmarkets' copper concentrate TC index, cif Asia Pacfic was at $30.10 per tonne/3.01 cents per lb on Friday May 28,its highest level since March 5. Spot activity was limited for the week ended May 28, with smelters looking for $40/4...Read More
Flat steel buyers and sellers in Turkey are questioning what will happen in global markets in the coming week, after the country's imported flat steel prices decreased in the week to Friday May 28 but local producers were firm on prices.Price changes in China were behind the uncertainty.Hot-rolled coil prices from China started decreasing on May 12 due to the government's call for stable comm...Read More
Turkey's hot-dipped and pre-painted (color-coated) galvanized coil market was mostly stable in the week to Friday May 28 because of uncertainty about flat steel prices globally, sources told Fastmarkets.While demand was strong to moderate in the domestic and export markets, prices were barely changed.Market uncertainty stemmed from a fall in Chinese prices - hot-rolled coil prices from China start...Read More
Liberty Steel Group has finalized the purchase of Polish plate producer Huta Czestochowa, a company spokesperson told Fastmarkets on Friday May 28.According to sources, the purchase price was 190 million zloty ($51.5 million)"Liberty Steel Group has fulfilled its commitment to the Polish administrative court for the completion of the acquisition of the Huta Czestochowa, Europe's only producer of g...Read More
A rise in Chinese ferrous prices has reduced the number of billet cargoes offered into Asian markets on Friday May 28.Comments by the Chinese government made in an attempt to cool commodity prices led to falls in ferrous contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, creating a sharp drop in steel billet import bids in the country. Bids for standard 5sp billet were heard at $650-660 per tonne cf...Read More
The pig iron import market in the United States was strong during the week to Friday May 28 due to new deals.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US was at $665 per tonne on Friday, narrowing from $650-670 per tonne the previous week.Read More
Export pig iron prices from Brazil bucked an increasingly pessimistic trend in the global market and remained strong during the week to Friday May 28, mainly due to long lead times.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil was $620 per tonne on Friday compared with $610-620 per tonne fob one week earlier.The latest sales from...Read More
Sentiment in the market for pig iron from the Commonwealth of Independent States soured during the week to Thursday May 27 due to the threat of weaker steel prices.Fastmarkets assessed the price of high-manganese pig iron, export, fob main port Black Sea, CIS at $630-635 per tonne on Thursday, down from $635-655 per tonne on May 20.Two sales of CIS-origin pig iron were completed to...Read More
Prices for shredded steel scrap imported into India and Pakistan moved down after there was further weakening on the Turkish scrap market and in Chinese futures, Fastmarkets heard on Friday May 28.Fastmarkets' steel scrap shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India, was $495.42 per tonne on May 28, down from $510.93 per tonne on May 25 and from $517.88 per tonne on May 21.Indian buyers showed...Read More
Prices for inter-merchant light iron scrap in the UK were steady over the week ended Friday May 28, consolidating firm gains from the previous week that hit a nine-year peak, with increases possible in talks due next week between suppliers and steel mills, trade sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-merchant, UK,...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices went down further at the end of the week on the news of a fresh US booking, market participants told Fastmarkets on Friday May 28.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked the US cargo, consist of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $503 per tonne and shredded at $513 per tonne cfr. The cargo breakdown was not immediately clear at the time of publication.The previous deal from...Read More
Iron ore prices rose on Friday May 28 amid strong semi-finished and finished steel prices, driven by firmer demand from end users, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $190.51 per tonne, up $0.78 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $192.67 per tonne, up $1.77 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $162.80 per tonne, up $0.42 p...Read More
China's domestic rebar price rebounded on Friday May 28 following futures gains, encouraging buyers to return to the market. Spot market sellers followed suit.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 4,830-4,860 yuan ($758-763) per tonne, up by 120 yuan per tonne Northern China (Beijing) weekly assessment: 5,000-5,030 yuan per tonne, down by 400-420 yuan per tonne Some buyers increased their pro...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were up across the board while those on the London Metal Exchange were mixed during the morning of Friday May 28. This followed surging prices on Thursday. Falling initial jobless claims in the United States boosted sentimentAn indefinite strike has started at BHP's Santiago copper-mining operations center Asia-Pacific equities upbeat as are pre-...Read More
An overview of the aerospace materials markets and the latest price moves.Charlotte Radford and Michael Greenfield in...Read More
Europe's largest aircraft manufacturer, Airbus, plans to ramp up production and remains confident of a recovery to pre-pandemic levels of demand for aircraft by 2025, the company said in an update for suppliers on Thursday May 27.Airbus plans to increase production of its A320 single-aisle aircraft by more than 10% to 45 per month by October 2021.And the company expects monthly production of its A...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Cristina Belda, Fleur...Read More
The Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt standard...Read More