Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange dipped slightly across the board during morning trading on Wednesday May 19, following a week of volatility and a growing sense of unease. "Although the first trading week of May looked super bullish, I am not in the camp that base metals can hold on to the gains made. Instead, I envisage the monthly close to turn negative," Fastmarkets analyst Andy...Read More
China's approach to addressing aluminium overcapacity is a "night and day" change from five years' ago, according to the chief executive officer of Alcoa Corporation, Roy Harvey. Harvey said that China had previously operated on a model of building a coal-fired power plant with a smelter connected and essentially repeating the process continually, increasing aluminium production and creating overs...Read More
Domestic prices for European heavy steel plate increased further in the week to Wednesday May 19, supported by good demand, sources told Fastmarkets.In addition, market sources said that lead times from domestic suppliers have been getting longer. German mills have already started trading October-December rolling plate, while Italian re-rollers have been offering July production."Demand is very go...Read More
A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday May 19. Please click...Read More
Base metals prices were down by an average 3.2% on the London Metal Exchange at the close on Wednesday May 19, with fears of inflation continuing to creep into markets given new warnings from China and ahead of the release of the minutes from the Federal Open Markets Committee's latest meeting. Zinc's three-month price dropped by 3.9% to $2,939 per tonne at Wednesday's close, erasing the gains it...Read More
A strategy to cool down commodity price spikes was top of the agenda China's weekly State Cabinet meeting on Wednesday May 19. Chaired by China's second most powerful politician, Premier Li Keqiang, the cabinet meeting discussed control measures to rein in the "unreasonable price rally", including ensuring sufficient supplies of main commodities. The aim is to prevent the rising costs pa...Read More
Glencore is to "gradually ramp up" its Mutanda copper-cobalt facility from care and maintenance to 20,000 tonne per year production of cobalt between the second half of 2022 through 2025, according to Ash Lazenby, cobalt trader at Glencore. This adds to comments from head cobalt trader, David Brocas, who had stated on Tuesday May 18 that the mining company would "not hesitate bringing back on...Read More
First Quantum Minerals has entered into a binding agreement to sell a 30% equity interest in the Ravensthorpe nickel-cobalt operation in Western Australia to South Korean steelmaker Posco for $240 million in cash, the company said on May 19.The Vancouver, Canada-headquartered company will retain a 70% interest in Ravensthorpe and continue to be the operator.Posco and First Quantum have also agreed...Read More
Domestic hot-rolled coil prices again increased day on day in Europe on Wednesday May 19 due to a combination of a shortage of material and strong demand, sources told Fastmarkets.On Wednesday, ArcelorMittal increased its official coil offers to ?,?1,150 ($1,403) per tonne ex-works, up by ?,?50 per tonne.The majority of European steelmakers have been holding back on making coil offers in the spot...Read More
US domestic wire rod prices rose by an average $50 per short ton ($2.50 per hundredweight) in May due to tightening supply; at the same time, more buyers have turned to imports to acquire needed material, pushing import prices above domestic prices in some cases.Fastmarkets' monthly assessment for steel wire rod (low carbon) industrial quality, fob mill US was $49-51 per cwt ($980-1,020 per ton) T...Read More
Galvalume prices in the United States surged to a record high for a fifth consecutive month, with buyer worries about finding material trumping concerns about cost. "Galvalume is probably backed up more than all coated products," one distributor source said. "Prices are crazy whenever supplies are available."Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for steel coil Galvalume, fob mill US was at $8...Read More
Steel wire rod producers in the north of Europe have largely sold outof June-rolling material and have yet to announce offers for July, while buyers expect prices to rise sharply due to persistent material shortage, limited and expensive imports, Fastmarkets heard on Wednesday May 19Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh-quality), domestic, delivered Northern Europe was...Read More
Prices for steel hollow sections in Europe increased on Wednesday May 19, with some mills reportedly stepping out of the market, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe was ?,?1,220-1,250 ($1,489-1,525) per tonne on May 19, up from ?,?1,190-1,220 per tonne on May 12.Market participants told Fastmarkets that severa...Read More
Steel rebar prices in the north of Europe continued to increase in the week to Wednesday May 19, aided by limited imports and increased scrap costs, while buying activity started to slow. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe was ?,?740-780 ($903-952) per tonne on May 19, up by ?,?20-40 per tonne week on week from ?,?720-74...Read More
Tax stability agreements made between mining companies and the government of Chile are designed to be non-negotiable and are expected to be respected if proposed changes to the country's royalty system are made, the chief executive officer of Teck Resources said.Chile's Senate will this week discuss a proposal recently approved in its lower house to introduce a controversial mining royalty bill th...Read More
Soaring global deep-sea ferrous scrap export prices are stoking increasingly bullish sentiment for the United States' upcoming domestic June trade despite a recent lack of US export sales.Higher offers for heavy melting scrap from the US East and West Coasts, which have now hit $510 and $540-550 per tonne respectively, failed to tempt US exporters into the market this week.But significantly h...Read More
The stainless scrap market in the United States is sluggish, with prices registering little growth and in some cases falling back."Despite [London Metal Exchange] nickel hovering over the $8.00-per-lb mark, austenitic stainless scrap prices continue to struggle," one scrap dealer source said."There must be ample supply to meet the consuming [stainless] mills' needs for nickel discounts to remain s...Read More
Turkish steel mills resumed booking deep-sea scrap late on Tuesday, resulting in higher prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday May 19 - the start of a public holiday in the country.The Turkish import market had been quiet since the Eid al-Fitr holiday that began on Wednesday May 12. Monday and Tuesday May 17 and 18 were normal working days, but no bookings were done until late on Tuesday. A...Read More
Teck Resources plans to rebalance its portfolio to reduce its exposure to steelmaking coal and focus instead on growth in copper, the company's chief executive officer said. Don Lindsay told Bank of America's Global Metal, Mining & Steel conference that future growth in copper will come from a combination of organic growth at existing projects, exploration and strategic mergers and acquisitions. "...Read More
Prices for steel scrap cargoes exported from Japan rose again during the week to Wednesday May 19 amid a healthy appetite from both South Korea and domestic buyers, market participants told Fastmarkets.The sharp decline in Chinese ferrous futures and spot market prices this week has done nothing to stop the rise of the Japan scrap market, with a further increase in offer prices recorded across all...Read More