The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The conequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on energy demand affected oil and gas prices through much of 2020 and weighed on drilling rates and demand for oil-country tubular goods (OCTG) in most regions.These effects were most likely to continue well into 2021 and perhaps longer, according to Fastmarkets OCTG Intelligence Serv...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR?In a strong start to the year, January saw ore and alloy pricing gains across all markets priced by Fastmarkets - with the exception of Chinese silicon metal export prices, which retreated slightly last month after posting impressive gains in December 2020.The combination...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Key ferro-alloy forecast highlights for the coming months:?EUR? A strong recovery in both bulk and noble alloys is expected in 2021 but the markets are unlikely to return to the levels seen before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have seen a quicker-than-expected recovery across various regions amid the economic fal...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Prices for most ferro-alloys maintained their upward momentum into October, solidifying previous gains and reflecting the improved demand from steelmakers, the rebuilding of depleted inventories, and the supply-side concerns following both planned and unplanned outages. Gains were noted for ferro-silicon, silicon metal, mang...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloys forecast highlights:Prices across most ore and alloy markets trended higher in September, buoyed by improving demand from steelmakers with the end of the summer holiday season in Europe and the United States, as well as maintained demand from Chinese steel mills. Tightening of alloy inventories...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Fastmarkets analysts were invited to present our outlook for the coking coal market at Coaltrans Asia, held online on November 23-25. One of the key topics at the event was the trade tensions between China and Australia, which overtook Mongolia to become the largest coking coal exporter to China this year...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore remains the most bullish commodity of the year, with prices fuelled by Chinese demand and supply disruptions in Brazil, along with bullish sentiment. But prices are expected to come down because Brazilian exports have begun to recover, and have reached their highest level since the Brumadinho dam disaster in 2019. W...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In the iron ore market, supply issues including heavy rains at the start of the year, followed by staffing problems during the Covid-19 pandemic, have affected exports from Brazil. This has helped Australia gain a larger market share, but since June, Brazilian export volumes have returned to levels last seen before the...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese blast furnace (BF) utilization rates have stagnated and iron ore port stock volumes are rising, reaching their highest levels since March, which suggests that iron ore supply is becoming excessive while demand is not growing. Unsurprisingly, prices dropped last week and we expect the trend to continue. The market has...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.We spoke in our previous tracker of stainless steel prices ending 2020 on a high. That trend has continued during early 2021 and, in fact, the upward rally in prices has increased its momentum.Compared with the monthly price increase of some 5% seen at the end of 2020, prices for grade-304 stainless steel in al...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Prices of stainless steel are generally set to reach highs for the year as 2020 comes to a close. For the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel, this upward trend is being driven above all by rising nickel prices, which themselves are hitting relatively high levels into the end of 2020.The price increases si...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.While much commentary has been written about Asian economies performing far better than those elsewhere this year during the global Covid-19 pandemic, it is stainless steel markets in Europe and the United States that are ending the year in better shape than their Asian counterparts.We do not talk of demand levels or demand g...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.While a world leader in many areas, the United States is a relatively small player when it comes to stainless steel. It produces a small amount of material, both in absolute and relative terms (i.e. compared to the size of its population), while a large share of its industry is in the hands of bigger European companies. Never...Read More
The price of tin fell throughout the day on Monday March 1 to its lowest in two weeks at the close of trading on the London Metal Exchange, while the fortunes of the rest of the base-metals complex was mixed following strong losses on the previous Friday.Tin's three-month price was down to $23,460 per tonne on March 1, its lowest 5pm closing price since February 12.The metal was rallying until Fri...Read More
Prices in the CIS export steel slab market picked up in the week to Monday March 1 with bookings heard at higher prices in Italy. Higher costs for raw materials and raised prices for finished flat steel prices supported the uptrend in the slab sector.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was calculated at $450.49 per tonne on March 1, down...Read More
The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Forest Service on Monday March 1 rescinded a January decision that would have cleared the way for a land swap deal for the Resolution Copper project involving Native American land in Arizona.According to an update on the project website, the USDA on March 1 "directed the Forest Service to withdraw the notice of availability and rescind the...Read More
The benchmark A380.1 secondary aluminium alloy price and the London Metal Exchange's North American special aluminium alloy contract (Nasaac) spiked to more than six-year highs, supported by healthy demand even as a semiconductor chip shortage disrupts automotive supply chains.Fastmarkets assessed aluminium alloy A380.1, delivered Midwest at $1.10-1.11 per lb on Thursday February 25, up 2.31% from...Read More
Ecobat has hired Sebastian Rudow as managing director of Berzelius Metall, the holding group for the company's German and Austrian assets. Rudow joins from European lead rival Recylex, which he has led...Read More
Fastmarkets plans to launch two new prices on a CIF China, Japan and Korea basis - nickel sulfate, cif China, Japan and Korea, $ per tonne, and nickel sulfate premium, cif China, Japan and Korea, $ per tonne.Fastmarkets Research estimates that the current demand for class 1 nickel units for use in electric vehicle (EV) batteries accounts for a minimal 3-4% market share, but this is forecast to inc...Read More
Publication of Fastmarkets' assessment of blister copper refining charges (RCs) for February was delayed due to a reporter error.The price assessment for copper blister 98-99% RC, spot, cif China, is normally published on the last trading day of the month.The price should therefore have been published on Friday February 26. It was instead published on Monday March 1. The price was $160-170 per ton...Read More