The waiting time to deliver out aluminium at Istim's London Metal Exchange warehouses in Port Klang, Malaysia, soared to 183 days at the end of March, according to the LME's latest queue report. The queue has built quickly over the past month, compared with no queue at the end of February for Istim warehouses in Port Klang for the first time since December 2018. More than 600,000 tonnes were...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month nickel price was down by 2.8% to $16,165 per tonne during morning trading on Monday April 12, with the other base metals also starting the week lower after turning to the downside last Friday following comments out of China regarding rising commodity prices.The decline in nickel this morning, the sharpest among its peers, comes after it had dropped by 1.2% on...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:?EUR? There is no end in sight to the shortfall in flat steel supply that has characterized US markets in early 2021, and we expect record-high US pricing for hot-rolled coil to persist through the second quarter of 2021 and into the second half of the year. We are fo...Read More
Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil increased further across Europe over the week to Friday April 9 due to a material shortage and strong demand.At the end of last week, ArcelorMittal increased its official HRC offers to ?,?920 ($1,094) per tonne ex-works, up by ?,?20 per tonne from its previous offers.The announcement followed a rise in transaction prices, with buyers paying higher prices f...Read More
Steel rebar prices from Russia increased in the week to Monday April 12 supported by a strong domestic market, Fastmarkets has learned."Russian domestic prices are strengthening," a source on the producers' side said.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, cpt Moscow, Russia, was 54,000 roubles ($697) per tonne on April 12, including 20% value-added tax. This was...Read More
The three-month nickel price was down by the greatest percentage on the London Metal Exchange at the close on Monday April 12, with Chinese warnings of higher prices over the weekend driving the entire complex down as well. The stainless steel additive was down to $16,134 per tonne on Monday, its lowest in two weeks, following a 1.2% drop on Friday to $16,628 per tonne. Nickel, along with the rest...Read More
National Iranian Copper Industries Co's (NICIC) three copper-related projects will come online this year to produce an extra 400,000 tonnes of copper concentrate, according to local media reports. That could bring in an estimate revenue of $800 million to the company, which was established by the Iranian state and was subsequently privatized, according to a Tehran Times report on April 6 that cite...Read More
The waiting time to deliver out aluminium at Istim's London Metal Exchange warehouses in Port Klang, Malaysia, soared to 183 days at the end of March, according to the LME's latest queue report. The queue has built quickly over the past month, compared with no queue at the end of February for Istim warehouses in Port Klang for the first time since December 2018. More than 600,000 tonnes were...Read More
Chinese automotive production jumped by 71.6% annually in March to 2.462 million units, providing strong support for upstream metal prices. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) attributed the strong recovery in automotive output to the government's efforts to control the Covid-19 pandemic. Output was also 63.9% higher than that in February, indicating steady growth in industria...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month nickel price was down by 2.8% to $16,165 per tonne during morning trading on Monday April 12, with the other base metals also starting the week lower after turning to the downside last Friday following comments out of China regarding rising commodity prices.The decline in nickel this morning, the sharpest among its peers, comes after it had dropped by 1.2% on...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were weaker this morning, Monday April 12, while markets contend with cross winds.United States treasury 10-year yields have pulled back from recent highs Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said US economy at an "inflection point" with growth and hiring set to accelerateMarkets wary of US earnings season in case resu...Read More
Tata Steel has introduced carbon surcharges on steel products manufactured in Europe to balance the rising cost of such emissions, the company's spokesman told Fastmarkets on Monday April 12."We are now creating a greater awareness of the cost of carbon by introducing a CO2 surcharge on our products," the spokesman said."Increasing shortages and rising prices for emissions rights mean that there i...Read More
Prices for steel slab from the Commonwealth of Independent States continued to climb in the week to Monday April 12, supported by persistent growth in finished flat steel prices both domestically and in customers' markets.Offer prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) from producers in Russia and Ukraine have jumped to $895-960 per tonne fob, depending on the coil weight and supplier, up from $885-905 per...Read More
Flat steel suppliers to Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow were targeting higher prices for May deliveries because of the strong export market but faced stiff resistance from buyers, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday April 12. Firm offers were still scarce because producers were taking their time to better estimate the market situation, but some had already started to test buyers wit...Read More
Turkish steel mills held off from making deep-sea scrap bookings on the first working day of the week, market participants told Fastmarkets on Monday April 12. The most recent cargo was heard at the end of the last week, when a steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Canadian cargo comprising 35,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) and 15,000 tonnes of shredded at an average price of $436 per tonne c...Read More
Turkish domestic auto bundle scrap prices have increased slightly over the past week, but ship scrap prices were fairly stable, market sources said on Monday April 12.In response to the upturn in imported scrap values over the past week, a number of steel mills have raised their buy prices for domestic auto bundle scrap.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix),...Read More
Seaborne Iron ore prices moved up on Monday April 12 amid steelmakers reporting healthy steel margins, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $174.57 per tonne, up $1.03 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $174.85 per tonne, up $0.84 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $156.34 per tonne, up $1.87 per tonne65% Fe Brazil-origin...Read More
The premium hard coking coal price increased in the cfr market on Monday April 12 due to necessary replenishment demand from some large-sized Chinese steel mills, while the fob price inched downslightly amid weak buying activity, market sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $113.86 per tonne, down by $0.85 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $...Read More
Prices for seaborne iron ore concentrate and pellet strengthened further in the week ended Friday April 9 due to solid demand for high-grade products amid measures to control emissions in China, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices65% Fe blast furnace pellet, cfr Qingdao: $228.98 per tonne, up $7.14 per tonne.66% Fe concentrate, cfr Qingdao: $200.06 per tonne, up $2.16 per tonne.K...Read More
Australia's Port of Port Hedland shipped 24.5% more iron ore in March than a month earlier, according to data from the Pilbara Ports Authority (PPA) released on Monday April 12.The port exported 46.7 million tonnes of iron ore last month, compared with 37.5 million tonnes in February.Volumes shipped in March were largely flat with that shipped in the...Read More