London Metal Exchange spreads are usually a key driver for duty-unpaid aluminium premiums in Europe but this was not the case toward the end of 2020, leaving market participants wondering what will be main driver in 2021. Since late November, the Rotterdam duty-unpaid premium has been steadily rising despite spreads trading at levels that would usually bring it down. Fastmarkets assessed the ...Read More
Three-month LME copper and tin prices continued to rise on Tuesday January 5, with the red metal coming close to its 2020 high, on a day when the rest of the base metals all saw increases, supported by a low US Dollar Index.Copper's three-month price settled at $8,002 per tonne on Tuesday at the 5pm close, just a few dollars short of the metal's 2020 high of $8,028 per tonne reached on Decemb...Read More
The cfr premium hard coking coal price jumped again on Tuesday January 5 after two transactions were sealed at higher prices.The fob market, meanwhile, remained relatively quiet, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $103.74 per tonne, up $0.25 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $207.44 per tonne, up $4.27 per tonneHard co...Read More
Iron ore prices increased on Tuesday January 5, with active trading in the seaborne and port markets supported by record high prices in coke futures, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $167.86 per tonne, up $2.57 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $168.00 per tonne, up $2 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao:&nbs...Read More
China-based minor metals producer Vital Materials has acquired the industrial site of PPM Pure Metals at Langelsheim, Germany. Vital will operate the assets through a newly established subsidiary, Vital Pure Metal Solutions GmbH (VPMS), that will be fully integrated into Vital's global network as a platform to provide sales and recycling solutions to the global customer base, Vital told Fastmarket...Read More
An overview of the chrome ore and alloy markets on Tuesday January 5 and their latest price moves. China Tsingshan and Baosteel increased their ferro-chrome tender prices by $31 per tonne for January. Market sentiment was propelled higher after ferro-chrome producers adjusted up their offer prices. The imported ferro-chrome price surged...Read More
For the first quarter of 2021, the quarterly benchmark main Japanese port (MJP) aluminium premium has settled at $130 per tonne, its highest level since it was settled in July-September 2018 at $132 per tonne.Market participants said that this high premium was unexpected, and attributed it mostly to the open Chinese arbitrage window, which at premiums as high as $150 per tonne was driving aluminiu...Read More
Peru reported a year-on-year increase in both zinc and tin production during November 2020, while output of copper and lead fell on the same basis of comparison, the country's ministry of energy and mines, Minem, said on Tuesday January 5.Copper output was down from a year before but remained close to the highest levels seen through 2020, the data showed. Production hit 206,387 tonnes in November,...Read More
Chile's output of copper decreased by 3% year on year in November 2020 amid a drop in volumes from large mines such as Escondida and Collahuasi, national copper commission Cochilco said on Tuesday January 5.Production in Chile totaled 485,100 tonnes during November, down from 500,100 tonnes a year earlier, data from Cochilco showed.Government restrictions to fight the Covid-19 pandemic in Chile re...Read More
Chilean copper producer Codelco is to go ahead with the $1.38-billion Rajo Inca expansion project at its Salvador mine, the state-owned company said on Tuesday January 5.The company expects commercial production to begin in the second half of 2022 and aims to achieve full production capacity of 90,000 tonnes per year in the first half of 2023. The mine's current output is 60,000 tpy, the company s...Read More
London Metal Exchange spreads are usually a key driver for duty-unpaid aluminium premiums in Europe but this was not the case toward the end of 2020, leaving market participants wondering what will be main driver in 2021. Since late November, the Rotterdam duty-unpaid premium has been steadily rising despite spreads trading at levels that would usually bring it down. Fastmarkets assessed the ...Read More
The three-month tin price on the London Metal Exchange crossed the $21,200-per-tonne mark while copper edged above $7,900 per tonne during morning trading on Tuesday January 5, with a weak dollar continuing to offset worries about new lockdowns in Europe and the Georgia run-off election in the United States. Tin's forward price stood at $21,215 per tonne as at 9am London time, a 0.8% rise on its M...Read More
Prices for carbon steel plate in the United States spiked after mills accumulated a backlog of unconfirmed order requests that may keep them busy for months and service centers grew more concerned about how long they must wait to officially book spot material. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US jumped to $45 per hundredweight ($900 per shor...Read More
Flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia remained stable over the past week, although buyers expect new offer prices to be higher, sources said on Tuesday January 5.Prices were unchanged because of the recent Christmas and New Year holidays in most parts of the world, sources added.Buyers are expecting to see higher prices because China's hot-rolled coil pric...Read More
Turkish exports of flat steel products increased by 2.46% year on year to 416,333 tonnes in November 2020, according to figures recently released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).This compared with a volume of 406,321 tonnes in November 2019, TUIK said.Despite the increase in the total exported volume, Turkey's hot-rolled coil flat steel exports decreased by 25.28% to 186,574 tonnes in...Read More
Domestic transaction prices for hot-rolled coil were largely stable day on day in Northern Europe on Tuesday January 5, as market activity remains slow after holidays. Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?666.25 ($817.06) per tonne on Tuesday January 5, down by just ?,?0.42 per tonne from ?,?666.67 per tonne on Monday. The index was, how...Read More
The export market for steel billet originating in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has remained quiet this week with most producers still out of the market for holidays, although sentiment remained upbeat, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday January 5.Most CIS mills were out of the market for new year and Christmas holidays and were expected to come back next week, sources said.There a...Read More
Steel rebar and billet prices in the United Arab Emirates increased this week because of higher offers and assessments, but market activity was yet to resume after the end-of-year period, sources said on Tuesday January 5. Domestic rebar The country's steel producers sold rebar at 2,259-2,295.5 dirhams ($615-625) per tonne ex-works the week before for orders to be produced in January and have clos...Read More
Flat steel prices in Turkey continued to increase in the week to Thursday December 31, but buying was weak because most buyers were busy with inventory calculations, sources told Fastmarkets.Additionally, hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices fell during the week in China because of weak trading, which created market concerns about whether global flat steel prices would follow, trading sources said.Fastmar...Read More
Turkey imported 616,408 tonnes of flat steel in November 2020, up by 12.2% from the corresponding month in 2019 when 549,549 tonnes arrived in the country, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) said last week. Orders for flat steel arriving in November were placed in August and September when there was moderate demand for the material in Turkey. There were several bookings reported fo...Read More