Zimbabwe emerged as the most likely beneficiary of South Africa's proposed chrome ore export tax in a recent Fastmarkets' poll. Fastmarkets examines the investment prospects for Zimbabwe's chrome sector and some of the hurdles the domestic industry faces, and why participants showed particular confidence in the country.In the poll, when asked which chrome-producing countries would likely benefit f...Read More
The London Metal Exchange tin price continued its uptrend by setting a new 2021 high and a historic $1,510-per-tonne backwardation on its benchmark spread, while the rest of the base metals complex closed on a mixed tone on Tuesday February 2. Tin's three-month price kept up its unabated rise on Tuesday despite a rising dollar, with the fundamentals for the metal superseding macroeconomic concerns...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices tumbled on Tuesday February 2 amid poor steel demand which weighed further on market sentiment, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $149.80 per tonne, down $7.27 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $150.37 per tonne, down $7.40 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $139.28 per tonne, down $4.67 per t...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month tin price reached a new 2021 high and was the sole metal to make gains in morning trading on Tuesday February 2, while the rest of the base metals were constrained by a bullish US dollar index following "productive" Covid-19 stimulus plan discussions in the United States. Tin's forward price reached $23,330 per tonne shortly after 9am, a new year-to-date high...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: SHFE tailwind for LME pricesAs we are entering the traditional strong demand season, we expect Chinese aluminium demand to show further recovery, and we expect demand from existing end-user sectors, new infrastructure projects and the export sector to show some increases. As a result, we believe that S...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view, including an upgrade to our aluminium price forecasts.Aluminium: Price forecasts raisedWe correctly expected the macro reflationary theme to raise the prices for all base metals but, with it being the base metal with by far the weakest fundamentals, we had expected the price of aluminium to underperform relative...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.These include an increase in our copper mine disruption estimates, upgrades to our production outlook for Indonesian nickel pig iron (NPI), a smaller refined zinc surplus, and an upgrade to our zinc price forecasts.Aluminium: Big disconnect between price and fundamentalsAluminium has extended its uptrend on the London Metal...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. We also review our price forecasting accuracy for the second quarter 2020.Q2 2020 price forecast performance review According to the results of Fastmarkets' Apex for the second quarter of 2020 published this week, Fastmarkets' base metals research team was the second most accurate price forecaster for nickel (99.06%), lead...Read More
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. buoyant flat steel market and rising raw material prices resulted in large price rises for welded pipe products across all regions in January 2021.Increases in the price assessments for helical submerged arc-welded (HSAW) pipes were of the magnitude of $140-190 per tonne, with the exception of Europe, where prices were...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.It was only a couple of months ago that contract buyers of coated steels - represented in large part by market participants from the automotive sector - were grudgingly resigned to paying as much as ?,?100 ($120) per tonne more for their contracted shipments in 2021 compared with in 2020. Increases in contract prices of...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:US flat product prices maintained momentum through November, with increases accelerating in early December in response to supply shortfalls, rising scrap prices, and improving demand.While we correctly forecast further pricing gains in November, actual prices surpasse...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