A strike by transport workers in Peru has disrupted the movement of metal concentrate between mines and key ports such as Callao, in Lima. The strike by freight carriers began on Monday February 15, affecting commercial trucking for all products and has emerged due to high fuel and toll costs, among other grievances, according to local media outlet El Comercio. Peru was the world's top exporter of...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Susan Zou and Sybil Pan...Read More
The duty-unpaid aluminium premium in Europe rose to its highest in nearly six years on Friday March 19 due to continued tightness of material and high demand. Fastmarkets assessed aluminium P1020A premium, in-whs dup Rotterdam at $160-165 per tonne on Friday, rallying from $145-155 per tonne on the previous day and up 44.44% from $110-115 per tonne at the start of the year. At a current midpoint o...Read More
Operations at the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon in the United Kingdom could restart early next year, its executive team said, while expecting to go public in the second quarter of next year if prices stay as elevated as they are now. Executive chairman Mark Thompson and chief executive officer Max Denning of Tungsten West Ltd (TWL) are looking to raise ?50 million ($69.4 million) over t...Read More
Spot copper concentrate processing charges rebounded for the first time so far this year on Friday March 19, following 11 consecutive weekly declines. Fastmarkets calculated its benchmark copper concentrate treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index, cif Asia Pacific at $28.10 per tonne/ 2.81 cents per lb for the week ended Friday March 19. Last week, the index dipped below $30...Read More
The beneficiaries of the London Metal Exchange's proposal to close the ring, incentivize electronic trade and change its margin methodology are likely to be algorithmic traders and banks, a floor trader at the exchange said.Daniel Messinger, deputy head of trading at LME ring dealer Sucden Financial, said that these market participants already have a significant influence on LME trading."It's virt...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States remain near an all-time high, supported by growing concerns among market participants that supply will be limited until at least the third quarter.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $64.98 per hundredweight ($1,299.60 per short ton) on Friday March 19, down by 0.40% from a record $65.24 per cwt on Thursday March...Read More
Indian domestic secondary billet prices fell by 100-200 rupees ($1-3) per tonne during the week to Friday March 19 on fewer inquiries and weakness in prices for finished products such as rebar.Fastmarkets' assessment of steel billet domestic, ex-works India was 38,500-38,800 rupees per tonne on Friday, down 100-200 rupees from 38,700-38,900 rupees per tonne ex-works last week."There will be a...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe rose day on day on Friday March 19 on a shortage of material combined with good demand, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?799.38 ($954.46) per tonne on Friday March 19, up by ?,?6.88 per tonne from ?,?792.50 per tonne the previous day.The index was up by ?,?6.38 pe...Read More
Hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) and color-coated coil prices in Turkey increased further during the week to Friday March 19, with several deals made in local and export markets, sources told Fastmarkets.The producers are fully booked until late May, with some mills booked until July.Domestic pricesFastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel HDG coil domestic, ex-works Turkey was $1,155-1,170 per to...Read More
Demand for flat-rolled steel was strong in Turkey's domestic market, and prices kept increasing during the week ending Friday March 19, sources told Fastmarkets.Hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled coil producers in Turkey were accepting orders to be produced in late July, and several import orders were placed.But production was halted by two automotive producers in Turkey - Tofas (March...Read More
Domestic rebar prices in Poland were largely supported over the week to Friday March 19 and sources said they expect continued good end-user demand and higher scrap values to lead prices higher. Rebar In the secondary market, buying activity was reported to be quite good during the assessment period, with some trading sources expecting March to be a record sales month for them, Fastmarkets heard....Read More
The never-before-seen measures meted out by China's Tangshan provincial government could cut hundreds of thousands of tonnes per day in steel output and hit raw material demand in 2021, market sources told Fastmarkets. Tangshan's environmental protection office said on Friday March 19 that it is looking to tighten its grip on air pollution in the city, especially after it found that not all s...Read More
The market for light iron steel scrap in the UK dropped in the week to Friday March 19, tracking a similar move in the European deep-sea export markets to Turkey and the Indian subcontinent, although British domestic supply tightness should support prices in the near term, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-m...Read More
Prices for shredded steel scrap imported into India and Pakistan fell in the week to Friday March 19 due to weak market conditions and poor demand from buyers, sources told Fastmarkets.IndiaFastmarkets calculated its steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India at $427.50 per tonne on Friday, down from $450.83 per tonne the week previous.A deal was heard at $425 per tonne for...Read More
Turkish steel producers stayed out of the ferrous scrap market this past week, with no deep-sea bookings amid limited steel demand and increased supply of scrap, especially from the Baltic Sea, market participants told Fastmarkets on Friday March 19.After booking two deep-sea scrap cargoes from the Baltic Sea at the end of the last week at $435-437 per tonne cfr, basis an 80:20 mix of No1 and No2...Read More
Brazilian iron ore pellet producer Samarco expects to produce 7.5 million tonnes of iron ore pellets in 2021, according to Rodrigo Franklin, the company's head of business intelligence.Franklin was speaking in Fastmarkets' Global Iron Ore online conference on Wednesday March 17 when he provided an update on mining operations at the Brazilian mining site. The company's operations resumed in Decembe...Read More
Iron ore prices fell on Friday March 19 amid tighter emission restrictions imposed in Tangshan until the end of June, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $161.39 per tonne, down $5.23 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $161.67 per tonne, down $5.31 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $148.05 per tonne, down $4.53 per tonne...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices continued to gain strength on Friday March 19, rising to their highest since August 2018 following the announcement of a new round of production cuts in Tangshan, in northern China.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,990-5,050 yuan ($767-776) per tonne, up 40-70 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan) - weekly assessment: 4,920-4,950 yuan per tonne, up 30-90 yuan per...Read More
Deliverable stocks of base metals, with the exception of copper and aluminium, in Shanghai Futures Exchange-registered warehouses decreased during the week to Friday March 19, with nickel posting the largest decline in percentage terms at 16.2%.Nickel inventories stood at 10,563 tonnes on Friday, down by 2,040 tonnes from 12,603 tonnes one week ago, according to the exchange's latest stocks report...Read More