Special bar quality (SBQ) steel prices for both hot-rolled and cold-finished products soared in the United States in April due to rising demand, mill base price increases and higher raw material costs. Fastmarkets' assessment for hot-rolled special bar quality 1-inch round 1000 series (carbon), fob mill US was at $57.50 per hundredweight ($1,150 per short ton) on Friday April 16, up by 12.75% from...Read More
Liberty Steel's management has promised Ostrava steelworks in Czech Republic will retain its carbon emissions allowances, addressing trade union's fears they will be lent to another mill, Fastmarkets has learned. On Wednesday April 14, OS KOVO trade union warned of a readiness to strike at Liberty's Ostrava plant amid concerns stemming from market chatter and international media that implied...Read More
Turkish steel producers returned to the deep-sea scrap import market at the start of the week, booking cargoes from a range of locations at lower prices, market participants told Fastmarkets on Monday April 19.At the end of the last week, a steel mill in the Izmir region booked a European cargo at $417 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20).And a steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Venezuelan...Read More
Turkish domestic auto bundle scrap prices have inched downward over the past week thanks to the recent recovery in the value of the country's currency, while ship scrap prices remained fairly stable, market participants told Fastmarkets on Monday April 19.Domestic prices for long steel products and, therefore, auto bundle scrap in Turkey typically decrease in line with a stronger Turkish lira beca...Read More
Iron ore prices in the seaborne market surged on Monday April 19, supported by active trading at Chinese ports and demand from steel mills ahead of the Labor Day holiday. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $181.80 per tonne, up $3.37 per tonne 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $182.55 per tonne, up $3.99 per tonne 58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $157.49 per...Read More
The European ferro-silicon market seems set to test the March 2018 price range of ?,?1,650-1,700 per tonne, with suppliers reporting several sales of standard-grade material for prompt delivery already done at ?,?1,620 per tonne.One regular trading company said it is not offering any such material below ?,?1,600 ($1,916) per tonne, although the bulk of sources suggest a range between ?,?1,500-1,60...Read More
Liberty Steel's management has promised Ostrava steelworks in Czech Republic will retain its carbon emissions allowances, addressing trade union's fears they will be lent to another mill, Fastmarkets has learned. On Wednesday April 14, OS KOVO trade union warned of a readiness to strike at Liberty's Ostrava plant amid concerns stemming from market chatter and international media that implied...Read More
Brazil was a net importer of finished steel during the first quarter of 2021 for the first time since 2014 amid a domestic supply-demand imbalance, according to data from the economy ministry.The country purchased 49,976 tonnes of steel more thanit exported. The figure takes into account unalloyed, non-special steel - hot- and cold-rolled coil, galvanized and Galvalume, and heavy plate, as we...Read More
China's crude steel, hot metal and finished steel production all rose sharply year on year in March and the first quarter of 2021, according to data released by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday April 16.March productionCrude steel: 94.02 million tonnes, up by 19.1% from March 2020Hot metal: 74.75 million tonnes, up by 8.9% year on yearFinished steel: 119.87 million tonnes, up by 20.9%...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday April 19 that are worth another look.Brazilian steel and iron ore producer Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) was able to continue to operate normally at its coal and container terminals at the port of Itagua?- over the weekend despite...Read More
Brazil-headquartered steelmaker Gerdau has launched a new subsidiary to supply ready-for-use, value-added graphene products and to develop new markets for the carbon allotrope in the Americas region, the company told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 15.Gerdau Graphene, as the new company is called, aims to be a service center of sorts for graphene products in the region. It will source the solvent-di...Read More
Three-month prices for base metals on the London Metal Exchange showed mixed fortunes at the close of trading on Monday April 16, despite the US Dollar Index being at a six-weeks low, with only copper showing a gain a of more than 1%, and nickel falling from its Friday price.Copper's three-month price was up by 1.8% at 5pm on Monday to $9,376 per tonne, compared with Friday's closing price of $9,2...Read More
Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil increased further across Europe over the week to Friday April 16 due to a combination of strong demand and short availability. In addition, at the end of last week, ArcelorMittal increased its official HRC offers to ?,?970 ($1,162) per tonne ex-works, up by ?,?50 per tonne from its previous offers. Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolle...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday April 19 that are worth another look.Brazilian steel and iron ore producer Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) was able to continue to operate normally at its coal and container terminals at the port of Itagua?- over the weekend despite...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
Australian lithium-spodumene producer Altura Mining has appointed Alex Cheeseman chief executive officer with immediate effect, the company said on Friday April 16. Cheeseman was previously the general manager of marketing for Altura prior to the administration process that was initiated in October 2020.Read More
It seems that copper's biggest market has soured on the metal. Premiums paid over exchange prices for copper cathodes imported into China have fallen in recent weeks, dropping to a five-month low in a decline that shows no signs of slowing down.Fastmarkets' benchmark copper grade-A cathode ER premium, cif Shanghai was at $40-48 per tonne on Wednesday April 14, a five-month low.Falling premiums for...Read More
Nickel briquette has steadily become a more favored choice of feedstock for Chinese battery-grade nickel sulfate producers in recent months, resulting in a notable pick-up in spot trading activity for the former.But recent declines in the Chinese nickel sulfate price have raised questions among market participants about whether this trend will continue. Fastmarkets examines the major factors behin...Read More