As competition in the global steel markets remains fierce, Fastmarkets provides an update on the new, progressing and closed trade cases from around the world in January 2021.The case list below includes only updates. For other continuing cases from 2020, see the updates for December,...Read More
The Pilbara Ports Authority (PPA) issued three advisories over the weekend to clear ports in the Pilbara region in Western Australia ahead of a tropical low.The PPA said it instructed the ports of Port Hedland and Dampier to be cleared on Saturday January 30, and the Port of Ashburton the following day due to strong winds and heavy rainfall forecast across the region due to tropical low 12U.The Au...Read More
Swedish steelmakers SSAB no longer plans to acquire the Ijmuiden plant in the Netherlands off of Tata Steel, SSAB said on Friday January 29.Tata Steel initiated discussions with SSAB on the sale of its IJmuiden plant in the Netherlands and related downstream assets in November 2020. After the announcement, market sources said it would have allowed SSAB to increase its presence in Northern Europe.A...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday February 1 that are worth another look.Chinese nickel sulfate prices have made steady gains since the start of 2021, rising again last week to set the highest level since Fastmarkets began tracking the market in July 2018.More than 67,000 lots of the Singapore Exchange's 65% Fe iron ore swaps...Read More
Hot-rolled coiled prices in the United States held essentially flat to begin February.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $56.56 per hundredweight ($1,131.20 per short ton) on Monday February 1, up by 0.1% from $56.50 per cwt on Friday January 29 and an increase of 2.7% from $55.07 per cwt one week earlier. Inputs were collected in a range of $54...Read More
Fastmarkets publishes trade logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparency into the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US averaged $56.15 per hundredweight ($1,123 per short ton) for the week ended Friday January 29, up by 0.5% from an average of $55.87 per cwt the previous week. The index wa...Read More
The price of tin on the London Metal Exchange closed above $23,000 per tonne on Monday February 1, while aluminium's forward price was under the most pressure from the rising US Dollar Index, dropping by more than 1% from last week's closing prices.Tin's three-month price rose by 1.4% to $23,103 per tonne from Friday's 5pm closing price of $22,779 per tonne, ending the day above the $23,000 per to...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday February 1 that are worth another look.Chinese nickel sulfate prices have made steady gains since the start of 2021, rising again last week to set the highest level since Fastmarkets began tracking the market in July 2018.More than 67,000 lots of the Singapore Exchange's 65% Fe iron ore swaps...Read More
Chinese nickel sulfate prices have made steady gains since the start of 2021, rising again last week to set the highest level since Fastmarkets began tracking the market in July 2018.Fastmarkets assessed the price of nickel sulfate min 21%, max 22.5%, cobalt 10ppm max, exw China at 33,000-33,500 yuan ($5,133-5,211) per tonne on Friday January 29, up by 1,000 yuan per tonne (3.1%) from 32,000-32,50...Read More
The price of tin on the London Metal Exchange closed above $23,000 per tonne on Monday February 1, while aluminium's forward price was under the most pressure from the rising US Dollar Index, dropping by more than 1% from last week's closing prices.Tin's three-month price rose by 1.4% to $23,103 per tonne from Friday's 5pm closing price of $22,779 per tonne, ending the day above the $23,000 per to...Read More
Iron ore prices fell on Monday February 1, sources told Fastmarkets, due to weak demand and limited trading liquidity, despite the potential impact of severe weather on supplies from Australia. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $157.07 per tonne, down $1.47 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $157.77 per tonne, down $1.28 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade...Read More
Seaborne coking coal fob prices across the board rose on Monday February 1, sources said, adding that bids and offers for premium hard coking coal were higher than before while the cfr market remained quiet.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $156.54 per tonne, up $1.62 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $217.73 per tonne, unchanged Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $133...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
Some European steel producers pushed their official hot-rolled coil offer prices upward in the week ended Friday January 29, with buyers likely to accept some transaction price increases in the short term.On January 28, ArcelorMittal increased its official offers for HRC to ?,?750 ($910) per tonne ex-works across the EU, up by ?,?20 per tonne from previous offers. And Swedish steelmaker SSAB has b...Read More
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the frequency of the publication of its copper cathode premium cif Rotterdam. Rotterdam continues to be a major location for copper cathode imports into Europe, but premiums for that business rarely change between a typical range, historically between $35 per tonne and $55 per tonne over London Metal Exchange prices. As such, Fastmarkets is proposing to amend the freq...Read More
Fastmarkets proposes to discontinue pricing physical copper cathode premiums on a seaborne basis to South Korea. South Korea is a major producer of grade A registered refined copper cathodes and in recent years has imported very little of this material. South Korean copper cathode imports tend to be equivalent grade or non-registered material, which Fastmarkets is looking into pricing instead as i...Read More
Prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed on Monday February 1 morning, with nickel the only metal to make a substantial gain of nearly 1%, given the weaker-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data released on Sunday. Nickel's three-month price was up 0.95% at 9am on Monday to $17,860 per tonne, from Friday's closing price of $17,691 per tonne.The metal fell 3% over the last week of January,...Read More
Metals analyst Vivienne Lloyd has joined Trafigura where she will focus on the zinc and lead markets, Fastmarkets understands.Lloyd joins after several years at Australian bank Macquarie in London where she covered base and...Read More
Onahama copper smelter in Japan is operating at half of its capacity after an oxygen plant outage in mid-January, Fastmarkets has learned. Jointly owned by Mitsubishi Materials and Dowa, Onahama smelter has an annual production capacity of 300,000 tonnes of copper. The smelter in Fukushima has been producing around 15% of Japan's copper output since its recovery from extensive damage caused by the...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were up across the board this morning, Monday February 1, this despite weaker-than-expected manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) data out of China over the weekend.But perhaps most noteworthy has been the 8% rally in spot silver that has surpassed $29 per oz to challenge last August's high. March tin lower on Shanghai Futures Exchange despi...Read More