Turkey exported 5,451,349 tonnes of flat steel products in 2020, a decrease of 2.82% compared with 5,609,697 tonnes in 2019, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).The country exported 566,436 tonnes of flat steel in December 2020, a 121.59% increase year-on-year compared with the 465,853 tonnes exported in December 2019, the institute said in a recent statement.The main reason for...Read More
A summary of Glencore's 2020 full-year production report for the coal sector, released on Wednesday February 3, 2021.In brief In the second half of 2020, Glencore started various proactive market-related supply reductions in relation to coal production from Australia. The company has maintained its full-year 2021 guidance for coal production at 109-117 million tonnes, however, there will be cautio...Read More
A scheme in India to retire and tax older vehicles will increase the supply of scrap to its domestic market, if its implementation goes ahead after years of false starts, market sources told Fastmarkets.On January 25, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, approved a proposal for a green tax on older vehicles and the scrapping of some vehicles, a government document sho...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday February 3 that are worth another look.ArcelorMittal Italia has resumed operations at blast furnace (BF) No2 and coke battery No9 at its Taranto steel plant in the south of Italy, the producer said on February 3.Rio Tinto...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have remained in the $57- to $58-per-hundredweight ($1,140- to $1,160-per-short-ton) range, with most market participants indicating that the market has not yet reached its tipping point.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $57.68 per cwt ($1,153.60 per ton) on Wednesday February 3, down by 0.22% from $57.81 per c...Read More
Treatment charges for both zinc and lead concentrates fell in the last week of January 2021, moving for the first time since November 27 last year, in Fastmarkets' latest assessments.Market sentiment played a large part in driving TCs lower, because even with most producers recovering from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mining of zinc and lead, significant tenders were concluded at sh...Read More
Prices for steel hollow sections in Europe remained unchanged this week after feedstock prices begin to plateau following a period of upward movement, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday February 3.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe was ?,?850-870 ($1,022-1,046) per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged week on week.After weeks of increases for...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday February 3 that are worth another look.ArcelorMittal Italia has resumed operations at blast furnace (BF) No2 and coke battery No9 at its Taranto steel plant in the south of Italy, the producer said on February 3.Rio Tinto...Read More
The frenzy of buying activity in silver, attributed to a group of retail investors using the Reddit forum r/WallStreetBets and other social media sites, is waning.The silver surge - which began on January 27 and saw the price of the industrial metal soar to an eight-year high of more than $30 per oz before slipping to just below $27 per oz by Tuesday January 2 - followed a phenomenal upswell in th...Read More
A global reshuffling of metallurgical coal trade flows and a limited supply of the steelmaking raw material have caused seaborne prices to spike in recent weeks.Global reshuffleIn the seaborne market, coking coal cargoes from the United States and Canada flowed to China after the East Asian country imposed a ban on the import of Australian coal in October 2020.Chinese steelmakers who could no long...Read More
A hazy outlook for China's ferrous sector after the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday is overwhelming the Asian steel industry, resulting in a market divided on prices and purchasing decisions, sources told Fastmarkets this week.Steel demand"The situation for the Chinese steel market is unclear now. It's not clear whether demand will rebound after the Chinese New Year. Many market participants in...Read More
Zinc's price was nearly 2% higher on the London Metal Exchange with dip-buying having started and futures prices edging upward on Wednesday February 3, following two days of decreases, with the easing of the Dollar Index helping to support metal prices.Zinc's three-month price closed 1.8% higher at $2,615 per tonne on Wednesday at 5pm, the first time it has closed above the $2,600 per tonne mark s...Read More
The fob seaborne premium hard coking coal price edged up on Wednesday February 3 after a transaction for premium low-volatility hard coking coal was sealed at a higher price, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $157.53 per tonne, up $0.74 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $217.23 per tonne, down $0.50 per tonneHard coking coal, f...Read More
Iron ore prices edged up on Wednesday February 3, supported by an increase in inquiries from steel mills intending purchase, although trading activity was still limited, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $152.65 per tonne, up $2.85 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $152.90 per tonne, up $2.53 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade p...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 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
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil across Europe were fairly stable over the week to Wednesday February 3, supported by good order books among EU steelmakers, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?710.00 ($855.54) per tonne on Wednesday, up by ?,?1.00 per tonne from ?,?709.00 per tonne on February 2.The ind...Read More
Steel rebar prices in Northern Europe have declined slightly over the past seven days amid a slowdown in buying and a softer scrap market, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday February 3.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?640-660 ($771-795) per tonne on Wednesday, down by ?,?10 per tonne from ?,?650-670 per tonne sev...Read More
After rising steadily since mid-October 2020, most stainless steel scrap prices in the United States held steady or inched lower over the past week, while dealers said sales negotiations with consumers for the month of February were under way."With steel prices dropping and nickel slipping today, I would assume stainless is giving back recent gains with interest this week," one dealer said.The&nbs...Read More
Mining revenues soared in Brazil during 2020 despite the Covid-19 pandemic, led mainly by higher iron ore prices and an increase in total production, Brazilian mining institute lbram said on Tuesday February 2.Revenues totaled 209 billion Reais ($38.7 billion) for the mining industry last year, up by 36% from 153 billion Reais in 2019, lbram reported. Iron ore contributed the most to that number,...Read More