The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices and margins for stainless steel producers have risen notably over the past few months in both Europe and the United States, but there are now signs that the rally is petering out.A clear reason for the halt to rising prices comes from the near 20% drop in nickel prices seen in late February/early March,...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.With nickel prices down by almost 20% over the space of around ten days during late February and early March, one might have been expecting us to be reporting sharply-lower prices of stainless steel, at least for the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel.This is not the case, at least in Europe and the Unite...Read More
Prices for flat steel products continued to increase in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow during the quiet holiday week ended Monday November 8, on limited offers from the mills, sources have told Fastmarkets.Some believed that prices have reached their peak and would remain flat until the end of the year, due to rumors about planned short-term maintenance stoppages at mills and the...Read More
The Russian Federation's Ministry of Finance is preparing a list of machine-building plants to be excluded from a liquid steel excise tax, Aleksey Sazonov, Russian Federation deputy minister of Finance said on November 8 during a State Duma committee meeting on budget and taxes."A number of Russian machinery-building plants have their own small steelmaking capacities...They will be excluded from e...Read More
Base metal futures prices were largely down across the London Metal Exchange complex at the 5pm close of trading on Tuesday November 9, despite gains made on Monday.Prices reversed across the board on the LME, initially trending higher before eventually scaling back by the close.The US Dollar Index rose throughout the day, supporting this price move. It was up to 94.05 by 5pm, from 93.96 at 9am.Th...Read More
Growing consumer appetite for sustainable products and tighter regulations on carbon-intensive primary aluminium production, such as the EU's recent proposal for a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), have seen greater investment in scrap-processing facilities across Europe, providing long-term support for scrap prices as a result.CBAM calls for EU importers of steel and aluminium to pay for...Read More
The recent downward correction in aluminium prices and premiums was expected after a strong uptrend in 2021, but tighter supply from China is set to continue supporting high prices, Brazilian aluminium producer Companhia Brasileira do Alum?-nio (CBA) said on Tuesday November 9.Chinese aluminium output cuts, meant to reduce carbon emissions, deepened a global supply deficit in the third quarter. Es...Read More
US-based aluminium producer Alcoa announced on Tuesday November 9 its adoption of a three-stage "technology roadmap" intended to assist in the decarbonization of upstream aluminium supply and to help achieve the target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.The roadmap has three key elements. These are the decarbonization of the alumina refining process, new processes to enhance the use of post-cons...Read More
China will ban the creation of additional capacity for some energy-intensive industries - including for steel, coke, alumina and aluminium - in a bid to control pollution, the state council said in a guideline issued on Sunday November 7.The guideline did not specify the areas to be subject to the ban or the date that the measures will take effect.This comes alongside the statement that the supply...Read More
A summary of the financial performance of Brazilian aluminium producer Companhia Brasileira de Alum?-nio (CBA) for the third quarter of 2021, according to its earnings report released on Monday November 8.In brief?EUR?Sales volumes rose during the quarter, on an annual basis, amid stronger demand from the transportation sector, especially for heavy vehicles and equipment, and from construction.?EU...Read More
London Metal Exchange aluminium stocks dropped below the 1-million-tonne mark for the first time since October 2019 and on-warrant volumes were at their lowest in nearly 16 years on Tuesday November 9, while the metal complex's prices were little changed from the end of trading on Monday.There was a 21,925-tonne fresh cancellation of aluminium on Tuesday, spread mostly between warehouses in Singap...Read More
Prices for hot-rolled coil in the United States weakened after market participants said lead times are narrowing and service centers are not as hungry for inventory this month.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $93.17 per hundredweight ($1,863.40 per short ton) on Tuesday November 9, a decrease of 1% from $94.11 per cwt on Monday and down by 0.7% from $93...Read More
The International Rebar Producers & Exporters Association (Irepas) continues to believe that prospects for global long steel markets remain good and indicate a satisfactory first quarter of 2022.The global long steel products market is stable at the moment and should remain so in the next quarter despite many uncertainties including power shortages and costs, logistical challenges, the Evergrande...Read More
Flat steel import prices to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia decreased during the week ended Tuesday November 9, and the market direction was still uncertain because of different price moves from different regions, sources told Fastmarkets.Hot-rolled coil prices have been decreasing recently in China, but increasing in Europe.On the other hand, Indian flat steel exporters are offering lim...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil across Europe were fairly stable on Tuesday November 9 due to limited trading, sources told Fastmarkets.Despite slow market activity, bullish sentiment prevails in the market, particularly for material produced and delivered in the first quarter of 2022. Upward sentiment has been supported by higher energy, transportation and emission costs faced by European ste...Read More
Carbon offsets and trading are an effective and quick way to contend with a future global ecosystem of green taxes, or the "green taxonomy," a sustainability consultancy said"Companies need to realize that states are very actively preparing tax and duties plans to favor green products, and this will result in new barriers to entry," carbon specialist and Keops Consulting founder Milena L??pez told...Read More
Turkish steel producers were mostly quiet on the second working day of the week amid firm offers from Baltic Sea and US suppliers, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday November 9.The most recent deep-sea trade was recorded at the end of the last week, when a steel mill in the Izmir region booked a Baltic Sea cargo consisting of 11,000 tonnes of heavy melting scrap 1&2 (80:20) at $500 pe...Read More
Ukrainian scrap metal industry association Vtormet has said that a proposed increase in the export duty applied to ferrous scrap should not go ahead without public discussion, in a letter sent to Ukraine's economy ministry on Monday November 8.In an earlier letter to the association dated November 2, the ministry confirmed its intention to impose an increase in the export duty on ferrous scrap to...Read More
Seaborne coking coal cfr prices declined sharply on Tuesday, with a lower offer price emerging and previously stranded Australian coal becoming available to Chinese end users.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $562.62 per tonne, down by $26.32 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $505.02 per tonne, down by $12.63 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $4...Read More
Denis Reuter, chief operating officer of major German recycler TSR, has been appointed as president of the Bureau of International Recycling's (BIR) ferrous division.Reuter succeeds outgoing president Gregory Schnitzer of Sims Metal Management, who had been appointed to the post in November 2018.In his capacity as division president, Reuter will become a member of the BIR executive committee and w...Read More