Chile's Corfo on Friday February 19 filed an arbitration process with the International Chamber of Commerce against United States-based lithium miner Albemarle for allegedly underpaying royalties on its lithium sales, Corfo confirmed to Fastmarkets on Monday February 22.Corfo is Chile's state agency in charge of handling lithium contracts.Albemarle operates a lithium production facility in the lit...Read More
Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe increased over the week to Friday February 19, supported by good order books at domestic producers and solid demand.Prices in the South of the region, in the meantime, were stable over the same period.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?723.75 ($877.00) per tonne on February...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday February 22 that are worth another look.China allowed five cargoes of Australian coking coal to be unloaded last week after a wait of several months, industry sources told Fastmarkets on February 22.The year...Read More
Buying activity in the domestic steel rebar market in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow was close to nil in the week to Monday February 22, due to bad weather conditions, Fastmarkets has heard.Official offer prices from major suppliers to the region were unchanged, but sources were expecting a downward correction soon.Snowstorms in the region over the assessment week put construction...Read More
Crude steel production in Italy inched higher year on year in January, while output in the long-steel sector registered a larger increase than that of the flat-steel sector, Italian steel association Federacciai said on Friday February 19. Italian crude steel production totaled 1.89 million tonnes in January, up by 0.7% from 1.88 million tonnes in the corresponding month last year. Long steel outp...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday February 22 that are worth another look.China allowed five cargoes of Australian coking coal to be unloaded last week after a wait of several months, industry sources told Fastmarkets on February 22.The year...Read More
Turkish steel scrap prices continued to rise on news of another cargo from the US on Monday February 22, which also led to a knock-on increase in finished steel and billet prices, sources told Fastmarkets. A steel producer in the northern Turkey booked a US cargo, comprising shredded at $440 per tonne and bonus at $445 per tonne cfr on Saturday February 20. The cargo composition has not yet been s...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese export prices for seamless oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and linepipe barely moved in February 2021, after rallying in January, because the holidays to celebrate the Lunar New Year curbed market activity sharply.With the holiday now ended, we have seen some sharp jumps in round billet prices and we expect there to...Read More
Mexican automakers have temporarily halted operations due to an energy shortage caused by fewer natural gas exports from the US state of Texas, automotive industry association Amia told Fastmarkets on Monday February 22.Energy supply is expected to be normalized "in the coming days," the association said. At least 26 Mexican states have had power and/or gas supply cut in the past week."[The energy...Read More
Liberty Steel, part of the GFG Alliance, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with plant builder Paul Wurth and holding company Stahl-Holding-Saar (SHS) to develop a hydrogen-based steelmaking plant at its site in Dunkirk, France, the company said on Monday February 22.Paul Wurth is part of equipment provider SMS Group and has a partnership with hydrogen technology provider Sunfire, whil...Read More
China allowed five cargoes of Australian coking coal to be unloaded last week after a wait of several months, industry sources told Fastmarkets on Monday February 22.Of these cargoes, four were unloaded in Jingtang port and one in Caofeidian port.The vessels had been waiting at anchorage along Jingtang port and Caofeidian port in Hebei province, China, for months, the sources said.It remains uncle...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday February 19 that are worth another look.Mexican integrated steelmaker Altos Hornos de M?(C)xico (Ahmsa) said it was able to partially resume operations on February 19 after being forced to stop output at its steel unit...Read More
Mexican integrated steelmaker Altos Hornos de M?(C)xico (Ahmsa) said it was able to partially resume operations on Friday February 19 after being forced to stop output at its steel unit and its coal and iron ore mines due to a shortage of fuel and energy. Ahmsa secured most of the energy supply needed by its mining and steel units and was able to re-establish gas supply at 50% of the normal p...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday February 22 that are worth another look.China allowed five cargoes of Australian coking coal to be unloaded last week after a wait of several months, industry sources told Fastmarkets on February 22.The year...Read More
Chile's Corfo on Friday February 19 filed an arbitration process with the International Chamber of Commerce against United States-based lithium miner Albemarle for allegedly underpaying royalties on its lithium sales, Corfo confirmed to Fastmarkets on Monday February 22.Corfo is Chile's state agency in charge of handling lithium contracts.Albemarle operates a lithium production facility in the lit...Read More
The year 2021 will be a turning point for network readiness and availability of 5G telecommunications after delays last year resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, sources have told Fastmarkets.More 5G smartphones, wearables and other consumer electronics have reached the mainstream market, while the increase in remote working practices that has resulted from lockdown measures continues to undersco...Read More
The prices of both copper and tin showed gains at the close of trading on Monday February 22, but signs of fatigue have started to emerge for the bulls in charge of nickel, which was down by 0.5% on a day when the entire London Metal Exchange base-metals complex set new multi-year highs.Copper closed up by 2.1%, at $9,097 per tonne, compared with Friday's 5pm price of $8,909.50 per tonne, while ti...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday February 22 that are worth another look.China allowed five cargoes of Australian coking coal to be unloaded last week after a wait of several months, industry sources told Fastmarkets on February 22.The year...Read More
A key topic reverberating around the Asian steel market over the past month has been the possibility of China reducing steel export rebates to 9% from the current 13%, or possibly axing them altogether.Market chatter on this topic has grown increasingly louder, with industry sources in China hearing more and more details about these plans from late January onward."This is likely in line with China...Read More
A shortage of containers to ship commodities around the world and the consequent soaring in associated freight rates have led to a revival of interest in breakbulk cargoes. Producers and physical traders of metals, agricultural, chemical and timber products have been starting to book shipments in breakbulk vessels, which cost far less and doesn't require vast amounts of equipment in port. On the m...Read More