Chinese consumers have re-entered the market for imported cargoes of steel billet over the week ended Friday February 19, following the country's Lunar New Year holiday, closing deals at higher prices.Sales to China of Indonesia-origin blast furnace (BF) 150mm billet started the week at $565 per tonne cfr, with prices rising progressively each day.Transactions for 3sp Indonesian billet started at...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Charlotte Radford, Cristina Belda...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
Italian steel distributors' association Assofermet has sent a letter to the European Commission highlighting distortion in the European Union carbon and stainless flat steel market caused by anti-dumping and safeguard measures. The association has specifically asked not to prolong existing safeguard measures into steel imports beyond their expiration on June 30 this year, it said on Wednesday Febr...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
Continued tightness in aluminium supply and improved demand have sparked another sharp increase in aluminium premiums in Europe, for both primary metal and value-added products.The benchmark aluminium P1020A premium, in-whs dup Rotterdam increased to $120-128 per tonne on Friday February 19, up by 3.77% from $117-122 per tonne the previous day and the highest level since reaching $120-13...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
An overview of the aerospace materials markets and their latest price moves.Ewa Manthey and Michael Greenfield in...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Europe, Asia and the United States for the week ending Friday February 19.China Low-grade seaborne manganese ore prices inched higher on a cif basis amid improved supplier sentiment due to rising logistics costs and the stronger South African rand, which reduces miners' netback in local currency.A steep rise in freight rates widened the gap between...Read More
Copper traders are starting to place bets that the metal will hit $12,000 per tonne by December but market makers say bullishly positioned options are dragging the metal's price higher sooner than that. Targeting March expiry, traders have placed 1,970 lots of call options at $9,000 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange, giving the holder the right to buy the metal if that level is hit; a further...Read More
Iron ore prices drifted down on Friday February 19, on weakening demand from Chinese steel mills, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $173.55 per tonne, down $1.50 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $174.00 per tonne, down $1.50 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $159.21 per tonne, down $1.01 per tonne65% Fe Brazil-origi...Read More
The seaborne low-volatility pulverized coal injection (PCI) cfr price declined on Friday February 19 on alleviated Russian-origin material supply tightness while the majority of Australian coal cargoes were still in anchorage, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $141.13 per tonne, down $0.13 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $217.48 per tonne, unchang...Read More
Ferrous scrap prices in the key global markets have gone up in the week to Friday February 19 with stronger steel demand following the return of market participants from China's Lunar New Year holiday.Turkish steel mills resumed their deep-sea scrap purchases at higher pricesUS ferrous scrap exporters seek higher pricesPost-holiday rebound in steel trade drives up scrap import prices in VietnamUpt...Read More
The cost of austenitic alloy steel scrap in the UK and Europe increased again over the past week on higher nickel costs, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday February 19.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for stainless steel scrap 18/8 solids, domestic, delivered merchants UK, was ?1,150-1,200 ($1,601-1,670) per tonne on Friday, an increase of ?20 per tonne week on...Read More
The LME copper price was close to $9,000 per tonne for the first time since September 2011 on Friday February 19, on a day when bullishness took hold of the base metals complex, with tin's price also rising significantly - by nearly $1,300. The red metal's three-month price rallied to $8,995 per tonne during trading, before pulling pack slightly to $8,900 per tonne at the 5pm close. The rise...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their latest price moves. Susan Zou and Sybil Pan...Read More
Copper traders are starting to place bets that the metal will hit $12,000 per tonne by December but market makers say bullishly positioned options are dragging the metal's price higher sooner than that. Targeting March expiry, traders have placed 1,970 lots of call options at $9,000 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange, giving the holder the right to buy the metal if that level is hit; a further...Read More
Copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) dipped slightly this week with only hand-to-mouth purchases made after China's Lunar New Year holiday, sources told Fastmarkets on February 19.Fastmarkets' benchmark copper concentrates TC/RC index, cif Asia Pacific settled at $35.80 per tonne / 3.58 cents per lb on Friday February 19, down from $36.2 per tonne / 3.62 cents per lb a week e...Read More
A summary of Canadian base metals miner Hudbay Minerals' results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2020. Summary: The company's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) for 2020 decreased by 14.4% to $306.7 million from 2019's full year figure of $358.5 million. This was despite adjusted Ebitda in the fourth quarter growing by 30% year on y...Read More
Inventories of base metals, with the exception of tin, increased in Shanghai Futures Exchange-registered warehouses in the week to Friday February 19, with zinc leading the way, according to the latest stocks report.On the second trading day for the exchange after the Chinese New Year break, zinc inventories stood at 101,919 tonnes, an increase of 32,553 tonnes, or 46.9%, from 69,366 tonnes on Feb...Read More