Physical premiums for zinc and lead ingots were flat globally in the week to Tuesday April 27 after soaring outright prices for the sister metals limited appetite in all but the most tightly-supplied markets. Higher offers for zinc ingot premiums reported in Europe Lack of import arbitrage limits China business US market expectations for more spot buying to come US zinc, lead demand firm...Read More
United Arab Emirates-based aluminium producer Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has commissioned the first part of the expansion at its Al Taweelah smelter, the company said on Monday April 26.The expansion of the aluminium smelter, which is located between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, includes construction of 66 new reduction cells to extend all three potlines and increase production by 78,000 tonnes per y...Read More
Demand for refined copper in China has now surpassed levels seen prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Vancouver, Canada-based Teck Resources. The company said that demand in China has been increasing since the second quarter of 2020 and continued to increase into 2021, partly due to continued Chinese government stimulus measures, increased infrastructure spending and improved construction...Read More
Work to complete the Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 (QB2) copper project in northern Chile has gone past the halfway point and is on track for first production in the second half of 2022, majority owner Teck Resources has said.The project has been delayed after being temporarily suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but work has resumed and went beyond 50% complete this month, the company said.QB2 is e...Read More
Latin American steelmaker Ternium plans to focus mainly on supplying its own slab needs in Mexico and selling any excess to the domestic market via its slab mill in Brazil, chief executive officer M??ximo Vedoya said on Wednesday April 28.The Ternium Brasil mill, in southeastern Rio de Janeiro state, shipped around 700,000 tonnes to the company's own facilities in Mexico during...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-dipped galvanized steel coil in Europe increased again in the week to Wednesday April 28 due to a material shortage and strong demand, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-dipped galvanized coil domestic, exw Northern Europe was ?,?1,120-1,150 ($1,353-1,389) per tonne on April 28, up by ?,?50-70 per tonne from ?,?1,050-1,100 per tonne....Read More
Domestic steel rebar prices in the north of Europe were broadly stable in the week to Wednesday April 28, supported by strong end-user demand, Fastmarkets heard.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?650-670 ($785-809) per tonne on April 28, unchanged week on week.The assessment reflected deals, offers and achievable pric...Read More
Strong interest in imports of steel billet among Chinese customers supported a further uptick in the CIS export billet price in the week to Wednesday April 28.A cargo of around 40,000 tonnes of Ukraine-origin billet was reported sold to China at $655-660 per tonne cfr early this week, Fastmarkets heard. Market participants said that the price would be equivalent to $605 per tonne fob Black Sea.Bul...Read More
Turkish steel producers continued their deep-sea scrap purchases for June shipments on Wednesday April 28, with prices edging ever higher, market participants told Fastmarkets.A steel mill in northern Turkey booked 22,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) from the Baltic Sea at $432 per tonne cfr.A steel producer in the Iskenderun region booked a second Baltic sea cargo of 17,000 tonne of HMS 1&2 (80:20)...Read More
A summary of Latin American steel group Ternium's financial results for the first quarter of 2021, as stated in its earnings report published on Tuesday April 27. In brief Sales volumes growth at Mexican operations was outpaced by a strong recovery in Argentina, Ternium said. Shipments from the Argentinian unit are expected to remain stable on a quarterly basis in April-June, supported...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices in the fob and cfr markets diverged on Wednesday April 28, with tight supply in the cfr market, especially for premium hard coking coal materials.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $112.21 per tonne, down by $1.25 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $225.00 per tonne, up by $2.28 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $104.62 per tonne, do...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices eased on Wednesday April 28 amid weaker demand, especially at Chinese ports, according to market sources.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $192.52 per tonne, down $2.79 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $194.23 per tonne, down $2.12 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $169.86 per tonne, up $0.95 per tonne65% Fe Brazil-o...Read More
Import prices for ferrous scrap in China were steady on Wednesday April 28 amid approaching holidays in the country as well as its major supplier, Japan.Demand from Chinese buyers is expected to weaken during the Labor Day break, however. China is observing a public holiday over May 1-5 to mark the occasion.Bids for imported heavy scrap were heard at $500 per tonne cfr northern China on Wednesday....Read More
China is planning sweeping changes to its tax regimes for ferrous raw materials from May 1, its Ministry of Finance said on April 27.The changes are designed to guarantee the supply of steel making raw materials and continue to drive the steel industry toward high-quality growth, the ministry said.There will be no import tariffs for pig iron, crude steel, recycled steel raw materials, ferro-c...Read More
There may be significant swings in the prices and trade flows in the steelmaking raw materials market if the Covid-19 situation in India continues to worsen, sources told Fastmarkets.India has had a record-breaking number of Covid-19 cases in recent weeks - breaching the 300,000 mark several times over the week to April 27 - while vaccinations fail to stem the tide of infections.Higher pellet pric...Read More
The Malaysian Smelting Corp (MSC) will only return to pre-pandemic smelting levels at the end of the year and will restrict its ore intake "both in respect of quantity and quality" in the coming months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the company told suppliers this week.In a note to suppliers sent on Monday April 26, MSC said that the pandemic had "severely affected" its smelting capacity and that i...Read More
Chinese copper smelters with tolling licenses have begun to export copper cathodes due to the emergence of an export arbitrage window between London and Shanghai, sources told Fastmarkets.The arbitrage window started to become viable in the latter part of last week, with the copper price on the London Metal Exchange strongly outperforming its counterpart on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. The LME t...Read More
Nickel's three-month price was at $17,265 per tonne at 9am, making it the only base metal to register a gain of over 1% in the morning of Wednesday April 28 on the London Metal Exchange, while the rest of the complex eased from their highs achieved on Monday and Tuesday ahead of the United States' Federal Reserve statements to be made on Wednesday. the nickel price was up by 1.8% on Wednesday morn...Read More
Most aluminium premiums were stable in the week to Tuesday April 27, apart from the US Midwest premium, which surged to an all-time high on sturdy demand and short supply. US premium at all-time high but still not attracting overseas unitsRotterdam premium rises $5 per tonne at the top end of the range week on week; market stabilizingMJP premium stays unchanged on short covering, South Korea deman...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Charlotte Radford, Cristina Belda...Read More