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 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
Cynthia Carroll has been appointed an independent non-executive director of Glencore plc, according to a statement on the company's website on Tuesday Fenruary 2. Her appointment takes effect immediately.Carroll was chief executive officer of Anglo American from March 2007 until April 2013, and in 2015 she became chair of Vedanta Resources.She started her career as an exploration geologist with Am...Read More
United States President Joe Biden reinstated aluminium tariffs on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) less than two weeks after they were removed, which has convinced some participants that President Biden will keep the broader Section 232 tariff program in place."Since the tariff on aluminium imports was imposed, such imports substantially decreased, including a 25% reduction from the UAE, and domesti...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
Chilean copper output plummeted in December amid lower activity at Codelco, Escondida and other major mines, data from the country's copper commission, Cochilco, showed on Tuesday February 2.Production hit 499,700 tonnes in December, down by 9.4% year on year from 551,500 tonnes. Additionally, full-year output reached 5.73 million tonnes in 2020, a 1% decrease from 5.79 million tonnes in 2019.Lowe...Read More
Aluminium producer Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) will supply BMW Group with its CelestiAL aluminium, the first aluminium brand made using solar power, it said on Tuesday February 2. EGA will supply 43,000 tonnes per year of CelestiAL aluminium to BMW Group. EGA has supplied metal to BMW Group since 2013 for use in the German carmaker's engines and other parts. EGA's CelestiAL metal will cover al...Read More
Slovakian steelmaker US Steel Kosice restarted operations at its blast furnace (BF) No3 in January this year, the company told Fastmarkets on Tuesday February 2."We adjusted our production and the range of our products to the current situation and demand from our customers. We do not make any forecasts," US Steel Kosice's spokesman said.The plant is now running with all three BFs in operation. The...Read More
Steelmaker ArcelorMittal is planning to restart blast furnace (BF) B at its Ghent plant in Belgium by the middle of February this year, the company told Fastmarkets on Tuesday February 2.The unit has been idled for maintenance since September 2020.BF B has capacity for 2.30 million tonnes per year of pig iron, according to market sources. The plant is equipped with two BFs with total capacity for...Read More
Demand for flat steel imports in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia was still weak in the week to Tuesday February 2 because buyers expect prices to decrease more and are holding back on placing orders, sources said. Most market participants said they believe prices will keep falling until after the Chinese New Year holiday (February 11-17), and prices from China after the break will...Read More
Buyers of steel rebar and billet market in the United Arab Emirates expected prices to decrease this week, with trading activity being very low, although producers kept their prices unchanged, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday February 2.Importers of billet and rebar also preferred to wait, because import prices usually follow price changes in domestic rebar, sources added.Domestic rebarThe coun...Read More
Export prices for billet originating from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) continued moving down on Tuesday February 2, with mills making concessions to win sales.Fastmarkets' daily steel billet index, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was calculated at $541 per tonne on Tuesday, down from $546 per tonne on Monday.This week, a 30,000-tonne cargo from Ukraine was sold to Qatar at $580 per...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe moved down day on day on Tuesday February 2, despite attempts by European mills to impose price rises, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?709.00 ($857.51) per tonne on Tuesday, down by ?,?4.33 per tonne from ?,?713.33 per tonne on February 1.The index...Read More
China's rebar market was inactive on Tuesday February 2 due to demand being low amid construction suspensions, sources told Fastmarkets.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,280-4,300 yuan ($662-666) per tonne, narrowing downward by 10 yuan per tonneA Shanghai-based trader said the spot market has been inactive with most construction sites suspending work after many workers have gone back to hometow...Read More
China's hot-rolled prices continued to fall on Tuesday February 2 amid thin trading, with sources pointing to a weakening market for steelmaking raw materials as having a dampening effect on sentiment.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,400-4,430 yuan ($681-686) per tonne, down 30 yuan per tonneSpot prices weakened amid losses in the futures market, sources said.A Tianjin-based trader said market...Read More
Turkish steelmakers continued to hold back from deep-sea scrap purchases amid falling prices, sources said on Tuesday February 2.The most recent deals were heard nearly a week ago, late on Wednesday January 27, when two US cargoes were booked.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a cargo from the United States, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $416 per tonne, shredded at $421 per tonne and bon...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