The spot ferro-chrome market in China continued its downward trend in the week to Tuesday April 20, despite some newly implemented production cuts in southern parts of the country.Following Inner Mongolia's energy cuts, a couple of other regions issued notices about dual control of energy consumption and intensity in the past week.Some smelters in Guangxi province were heard to have idled their fu...Read More
Prices for steel hollow sections in Europe moved higher on Wednesday April 21 because feedstock costs were continuing to climb, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?1,050-1,120 ($1,265-1,349) per tonne on April 21, up from ?,?950-1,050 per tonne on April 14."Prices have increased very quickly and aggressivel...Read More
Sales volumes from flat-steel distributors rose 22.65% in March, compared to figures from the same month in 2020, amid resilient demand and a stronger performance, national distributor association Inda said on Tuesday April 20.Additionally, domestic prices were extremely competitive in comparison with imports despite recent increases applied by mills in April, according to the association.Flat-rol...Read More
Brazil's apparent steel usage grew by 50.15% in March compared with the same month in 2020, with imports outgrowing domestic sales from mills, according to data from national steelmaker association Instituto A??o Brasil published on Tuesday April 20.Steel consumption reached 2.45 million tonnes in March, up from 1.63 million tonnes a year earlier, A??o Brasil data showed. In March of last yea...Read More
A summary of Brazilian miner Vale's iron ore results for the first quarter of 2021 as stated in its latest production and sales report released on Monday April 19.In brief Production of iron ore fines increased by 14.2% year on year, supported by gradual resumption of operations in Timbopeba, Fabrica and Vargem Grande complexes, a stronger performance in Serra Norte and lower rainfall in January.T...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday April 21 that are worth another look.Over July 2020 to March 2021, BHP's metallurgical coal production volume came to 29 million tonnes, down by 2% year on year, BHP's latest quarterly report on April 21 shows.Bipartisan...Read More
A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday April 21.Read More
Domestic prices for European heavy steel plate increased again in the week to Wednesday April 21, supported by rising slab costs and a redirection of plate supplies from the spot market to projects, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate, 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe, was ?,?840-850 ($1,012-1,024) per tonne on April 21, up by ?,?30-40 per tonne from ?...Read More
Aluminium prices hit a new year-to-date high of $2,368 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday April 21, while most other base metals prices also closed higher, with stock markets in the United States rising, the Dollar Index falling, and speculative buyers taking advantage of Tuesday's dips.The three-month price of aluminium closed up by 1.6% to $2,364 per tonne from its Tuesday price...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday April 21 that are worth another look.Over July 2020 to March 2021, BHP's metallurgical coal production volume came to 29 million tonnes, down by 2% year on year, BHP's latest quarterly report on April 21 shows.Bipartisan...Read More
Proposed changes to the London Metal Exchange's market structure may actually have the opposite effect to its desired intention: destroying liquidity, not increasing it.Attention has been focused on the proposed permanent closure of the LME ring, the incentivization of electronic trade and changes to margin methodology, which were central issues in the exchange's recently closed discussion paper.B...Read More
The Shanghai Futures Exchange's plans to list ferro-chrome futures, potentially this year, will bring welcomed hedging opportunities and may weaken the dominance of China's stainless steel mills in the ore and alloy markets, participants told Fastmarkets.While no definite date or specifications of the ferro-chrome futures have been announced, Fastmarkets asked participants what changes these contr...Read More
Usually after a London Metal Exchange discussion paper there is a decent idea of what the outcome is likely to be. But this time around, it seems much harder to tell which path the LME will take. The proposals under debate include the permanent closure of the exchange's open outcry trading floor, known as the ring, which dates back to 1877. They also include the incentivization of electronic trade...Read More
Aluminium prices hit a new year-to-date high of $2,368 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday April 21, while most other base metals prices also closed higher, with stock markets in the United States rising, the Dollar Index falling, and speculative buyers taking advantage of Tuesday's dips.The three-month price of aluminium closed up by 1.6% to $2,364 per tonne from its Tuesday price...Read More
A recovery in the US dollar index weakened London Metal Exchange zinc and lead prices in the morning of Wednesday April 21, while nickel and aluminium prices regained some of the previous day's losses. The dollar index was at 91.32 on Wednesday morning, up from Tuesday's reading of 90.96. It hit its lowest since March 4 on Tuesday morning when it fell to 90.85, which had allowed for some price rec...Read More
Base metals prices on London Metal Exchange were up across the board this morning, Wednesday April 21, but those on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mainly weaker, as were broader markets, while haven assets were bid for.The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic is becoming polarized on a regional basis......this could threaten the global recovery and travelTension rises on Russia-Ukraine border Base...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: SHFE tailwind for LME pricesAs we are entering the traditional strong demand season, we expect Chinese aluminium demand to show further recovery, and we expect demand from existing end-user sectors, new infrastructure projects and the export sector to show some increases. As a result, we believe that S...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view, including an upgrade to our aluminium price forecasts.Aluminium: Price forecasts raisedWe correctly expected the macro reflationary theme to raise the prices for all base metals but, with it being the base metal with by far the weakest fundamentals, we had expected the price of aluminium to underperform relative...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.These include an increase in our copper mine disruption estimates, upgrades to our production outlook for Indonesian nickel pig iron (NPI), a smaller refined zinc surplus, and an upgrade to our zinc price forecasts.Aluminium: Big disconnect between price and fundamentalsAluminium has extended its uptrend on the London Metal...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. We also review our price forecasting accuracy for the second quarter 2020.Q2 2020 price forecast performance review According to the results of Fastmarkets' Apex for the second quarter of 2020 published this week, Fastmarkets' base metals research team was the second most accurate price forecaster for nickel (99.06%), lead...Read More