An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang, and Sybil...Read More
Nickel's price was up by more than 5% on the London Metal Exchange and tin's was up by 4.3% since the start of the week, with bullish momentum returning to the base-metals complex on Friday May 28 and all metal prices finishing higher than at the start of the week.Prices bounced back following a period of weakness and correction seen at the beginning of the week, after the Chinese government calle...Read More
Spot interest in overseas blister copper remained low this month in China, with importers continuing to show a preference for top-grade copper scrap while the outright price of the metal remained high. Fastmarkets assessed the blister copper 98-99% RC spot, cif China at $220-240 per tonne for May, up from $185-200 per tonne a month earlier and at its highest since April 2018.Trading remained limit...Read More
Ivanhoe Mines - the developer of the Kamoa Kakula copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - is in talks with that country's government about securing a permit to export concentrate, it said.The talks between Canada-listed Ivanhoe Mines and Kinshasa follow news - broken by Fastmarkets this week - of the DRC introducing a ban on the export of copper...Read More
Customs officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo have backtracked on a decree made just 24 hours earlier and re-approved the export of copper concentrate and cobalt from the country.In an official letter to extractive companies in Katanga province, the center of cobalt mining in the country if not the world, Bernard Bosele Pilipilithe, provincial director of Customs and Excise for the provinc...Read More
Base metals, with the exception of lead, registered declining inventories in Shanghai Futures Exchange-registered warehouses in the week to Friday May 28, with tin the biggest faller - down 13%.in stocks totalled 5,241 tonnes on Friday, down by 783 tonnes from 6,024 tonnes a week ago.The largest outflow was from Nanchu warehouse in Guangdong province, where volumes were down by...Read More
Tin was the standout performer on the morning of Friday May 28, reaching a new year-to-date peak of $30,800 per tonne, while other LME futures prices had a more up-and-down start, with some having ended the Thursday session with increases of more than 3%. After reaching $30,800 per tonne during early trading - its highest level since April 2011 - tin was down slightly to $30,605 per tonne at 9am,...Read More
Canadian steelmaker Stelco has agreed with a German battery recycling specialist, Primobius, to work toward creating a lithium-ion battery recycling venture, initially hoped to recycle 20,000 tonnes per year of batteries.The pair "would actively plan for an expanded capacity operation," under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) announced on Thursday May 27 by Primobius's Australian co-owner, Neome...Read More
Steel billet suppliers in the Commonwealth of Independent States expect China to resume booking material, albeit at a lower rate than earlier in May, Fastmarkets learned on Friday May 28."It's hard to say, but I think they will resume bookings because no-one cancelled the plan to reduce steel output by the end of the year," one trader said.In northern China's Tangshan city, the country's steelmaki...Read More
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
Indian domestic secondary billet prices edged up in the week to Friday May 28, even as finished steel prices began to fall.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel billet domestic, ex-works India was 41,400-41,600 rupees ($565-572) per tonne on Friday, up 300 rupees from last week's 41,100-41,300 rupees per tonne ex-works. "Billet prices have only increased because...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
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