Covid-19 appears to have claimed another casualty: the London Metal Exchange ring trading floor. The closure of the floor, now entering its 144th year, has been proposed in a discussion paper issued by the exchange earlier on Tuesday January 19.The open outcry floor may be old, but it didn't appear to have serious underlying health issues. It has successfully fought back against talk it was set to...Read More
The London Metal Exchange and its clearing house are revisiting a proposal to transition to a different way of calculating its clearing methodology. The exchange announced its discussion paper on the topic on Tuesday January 19. The last attempt was made in 2017 and was rejected by LME members because it would make the provision of credit lines expensive and result in the rapid withdrawal of...Read More
Covid-19 appears to have claimed another casualty: the London Metal Exchange ring trading floor. The closure of the floor, now entering its 144th year, has been proposed in a discussion paper issued by the exchange earlier on Tuesday January 19.The open outcry floor may be old, but it didn't appear to have serious underlying health issues. It has successfully fought back against talk it was set to...Read More
The London Metal Exchange is proposing the permanent closure of its open-outcry trading floor and the incentivization of greater liquidity on its electronic trading platform, LMESelect. The proposals, laid out in a new discussion paper on future market structure, also include potential changes to the exchange's margin methodology and the introduction of potential additional disclosures and policie...Read More
The domestic price for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe inched down day on day on Tuesday January 19 due to slow market activity, sources told Fastmarkets. Both buyers and steelmakers have been holding back from making new deals, according to market participants. Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?719.00 ($868.00) per tonne on Tuesda...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices have gone down once again in the latest trade heard for a US-origin cargo, sources said on Tuesday January 19.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a US cargo, comprising 6,500 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $450 per tonne, 22,000 tonnes of shredded and 1,500 tonnes of bonus at $460 per tonne cfr. The deal was agreed on January 16, with the cargo scheduled to...Read More
Chilean copper producer Codelco's board of directors has approved a $1.24 billion investment in the expansion of its El Teniente facility just south of the capital, Santiago, the state-owned copper producer said on Tuesday January 19.Those capital expenditures represent the total budget estimated for the Diamante and Andesita projects, and will be spent together with another $1.93 billion, already...Read More
London Metal Exchange lead and nickel made gains close to 1% during the afternoon trading session on Tuesday January 19, with a lower US dollar index giving metals some space to recuperate their forward prices. Lead's three-month price was up 0.9% to $2,015 per tonne at 5pm, an increase from $1,996.50 per tonne on Monday. The metal had been on a steady decline since reaching $2,051 per tonne...Read More
The London Metal Exchange and its clearing house are revisiting a proposal to transition to a different way of calculating its clearing methodology. The exchange announced its discussion paper on the topic on Tuesday January 19. The last attempt was made in 2017 and was rejected by LME members because it would make the provision of credit lines expensive and result in the rapid withdrawal of...Read More
A summary of Brazilian base metals producer Nexa Resources' operational figures for the fourth quarter and full-year 2020, as stated in its production report published on Tuesday January 19.In brief Output in 2020 was within the revised full-year guidance provided in May after the company was forced to close some Peruvian mines due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Mining production at Cerro Lindo, Atacoc...Read More
Covid-19 appears to have claimed another casualty: the London Metal Exchange ring trading floor. The closure of the floor, now entering its 144th year, has been proposed in a discussion paper issued by the exchange earlier on Tuesday January 19.The open outcry floor may be old, but it didn't appear to have serious underlying health issues. It has successfully fought back against talk it was set to...Read More
The London Metal Exchange is proposing the permanent closure of its open-outcry trading floor and the incentivization of greater liquidity on its electronic trading platform, LMESelect. The proposals, laid out in a new discussion paper on future market structure, also include potential changes to the exchange's margin methodology and the introduction of potential additional disclosures and policie...Read More
Additional price increases in the Brazilian flat steel market are possible due to the current low supply, but buyers are already cautious after a series of price gains, national flat steel distributors association Inda said."Steelmakers have their order books completely sold out until March, and some until April," Inda president Carlos Loureiro said.Some flat steel producers have announced 10% pri...Read More
Rebar buyers in the UAE have done deals this week at the higher prices announced last week, but there is little demand for billet imports because producers have ample stocks, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday January 19.And billet import activity is likely to remain slow for another week or two, depending on local demand for rebar, they added.Domestic rebarThe country's steel producers...Read More
Brazilian flat steel distributors have reported a 13.8% year-on-year increase in sales volumes during December 2020, with full-year 2020 figures rising by 6.6% over 2019, national distributors' association Inda said on Tuesday January 19.Distributors sold 288,000 tonnes of flat-rolled steel in December last year, up from 253,200 tonnes a year before. In 2020 as a whole, sales volumes were 3.62 mil...Read More
Some of the flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia decreased slightly over the past week amid lower offers and weak demand, sources said on January 19.Demand was weak in both countries because buyers were unsure of the direction of prices, sources said.India, one of the biggest exporters of flat steel to Gulf countries, did not send any new offer prices this we...Read More
Export prices for billet originating from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) dropped on Tuesday January 19 amid lower offers and bid prices heard in the market, sources told Fastmarkets.Lower scrap prices and increased competition in the billet segment pressured prices downward, sources said.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey was $451.40...Read More
The export market for flat steel products from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) weakened in the seven days to Monday January 18, amid growing competition from Chinese suppliers offering lower prices. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $765-780 per tonne on Monday, down from $785-790 per tonne a week earlier...Read More
A summary of multinational mining company Rio Tinto's fourth-quarter 2020 production results from its latest production report released on Tuesday January 19. In brief Iron ore production at Pilbara (100% basis) in the fourth quarter and the full year of 2020 were higher year on year, despite weather disruptions and strict safety measures due to Covid-19 in the second quarter. Iron ore...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices were relatively flat on Tuesday January 19 with no trades heard, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $123.81 per tonne, down $0.34 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $208.44 per tonne, down $0.25 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $101.54 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: ...Read More