Steel slab export prices from Brazil soared in the week ended Friday December 4, rising above $600 per tonne fob when producers with low availability raised their prices and focused on high-paying markets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob main port Brazil, was $590-600 per tonne fob on December 4, up by $60-75 per tonne from $515-540 per tonne on November 27.The asse...Read More
The uptrend in flat-rolled steel import prices in South America persisted during the week ended Friday December 4, with offers from China, Japan and Brazil all at higher levels than previously for February-shipment cargoes.But at the same time, market participants were still seeing much lower bids, citing the rising costs of steel products as a major problem this year."[This uptrend is] creating b...Read More
The price of domestic hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe increased further day-on-day on Friday December 4, supported by a general shortage of flat steel, sources told Fastmarkets.European mills also increased official offers.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?575.00 ($697.58) per tonne on Friday December 4, up by ?,?5.00 per ton...Read More
The price for pig iron exports from Brazil increased again during the week to Friday December 4 mainly because of a global uptrend, although trade from the country was muted over the week.Fastmarkets assessed the price of pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil, at $420 per tonne on Friday, up from $405 per tonne a week before.No new sales were heard from the south of Brazil during the w...Read More
Gary Nagle will become the new chief executive officer of Glencore when Ivan Glasenberg retires during the first half of 2021, the company said on Friday December 4. Nagle is currently global head of Glencore's coal industrial business based out of Sydney Australia, and will return to Switzerland to begin a transition to the new role.After 18 years as Glencore CEO, Glasenberg will step down f...Read More
Nearly two months after Chinese steel mills were verbally notified to halt imports of Australian coal, market participants and industry analysts tell Fastmarkets about the consequences of the ban and their predictions for its future. Utilities companies and steel mills in China were verbally notified during the Golden Week holiday (October 1-8) to stop importing Australian coal with immediate...Read More
China's Baowu Steel Group Corp, the world's largest steelmaker, will continue with its merger strategy over the next few years, which cound result in a increase in its steelmaking capacity to 200 million tonnes per year, the China Iron & Steel Association (Cisa) reported recently.The steelmaker's capacity exceeded 100 million tpy in September when it merged with Chongqing Iron & Steel Co, making i...Read More
Iron ore prices surged further on Friday December 4, supported by active long positions in futures markets and steady drawdowns in port inventory, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $145.01 per tonne, up $7.93 per tonne 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $144.36 per tonne, up $7.38 per tonne 58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $132.83 pe...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices fluctuated across the board in the fob market on Friday December 4 due to the latest changes in supply, while the cfr market was flat.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $102.62 per tonne, down $0.46 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $168.78 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $92.97 per tonne, up $2.17 per tonneHard coking...Read More
The main global scrap markets continued to move higher in the week to Friday December 4, with most markets continuing regular purchases of material. Turkish steel mills continue to pay higher pricesUnited States market remains subdued post-holidayVietnam reports higher pricesTaiwan market reports optimistic sentiment and tight supplyIndian market expresses uncertainty over higher pricesTurkeyTurki...Read More
ArcelorMittal is to increase its official spot offer price for second-quarter rolling hot-rolled coil across Europe to ?,?650 ($788.56) per tonne ex-works effective immediately, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday December 4.They added that the traditional gap between offers in Northern and Southern Europe has now disappeared altogether.Offers of hot-dipped galvanized coil also moved up to ?,?...Read More
Miner Vedanta's Gamsberg zinc processing plant in South Africa could restart milling operations in the week beginning Monday December 7, Fastmarkets has learned from informed sources.Milling operations at Gamsberg were currently "under planned maintenance" but were "expected to restart next week," a source who claimed direct knowledge told Fastmarkets on December 3.All mining activity has been sus...Read More
The London Metal Exchange base metals complex ended around its recently established highs, with nickel making the largest rise of around 3% on Friday December 4. LME nickel's three-month price closed at $16,399 per tonne at 5pm on Friday, a 2.8% increase from its Thursday close of $15,954 per tonne and up 0.8% from the beginning of the week. The metal had a rocky week, closing at $16,27...Read More
An overview of the new energy raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Susan Zou, Sybil Pan, and Sally Zhang in Shanghai, Carrie Shi in Beijing, and...Read More
Vale's head of base metals said he is "hopeful" a positive decision will be reached in two days for the sale of nickel-cobalt operation Vale New Caledonia (VNC) on Wednesday December 2.The Brazilian multi-metal miner entered into a 30-day exclusivity agreement to discuss the sale of VNC with a consortium comprising current management and employees of the unit, as well as state investors and S...Read More
Gary Nagle will become the new chief executive officer of Glencore when Ivan Glasenberg retires during the first half of 2021, the company said on Friday December 4. Nagle is currently global head of Glencore's coal industrial business based out of Sydney Australia, and will return to Switzerland to begin a transition to the new role.After 18 years as Glencore CEO, Glasenberg will step down f...Read More
Global nickel premiums were flat week on week, with the absence of an open arbitrage in Shanghai and market participants focused on 2021 negotiations rather than the spot market in Europe, sources told Fastmarkets.A lack of a profitable arb in Shanghai keeps refined nickel premiums unchanged; nickel pig iron (NPI) prices continue dropPremiums in Europe are flat despite an increased interest for ma...Read More
Copper led the way in a morning of gains on the London Metal Exchange on Friday December 4, rising to a seven-year high again and taking the rest of the complex higher after a day of slight losses on Thursday.The red metal's three-month price rose by 1.2% to $7,767 per tonne on Friday at 9am, a new year-to-date high and surpassing the previous 2020 high of $7,743 per tonne.Copper's price is now cl...Read More
Turkish steelmaker Tosyali Iron and Steel has ordered a quantum electric arc furnace and continuous slab caster from Primetals Technologies, Primetals said on Thursday December 3.The quantum EAF is able to produce 2 million tonnes per year of liquid steel and "can be operated with a mixture of scrap of varying composition, and hot briquetted iron and pig iron," Primetals said.The slab caster is tw...Read More
The publication of Fastmarkets' CIS billet export index for Friday December 4 has been delayed because of a reporter error in setting the publishing time. Rather than the scheduled time of 16.00 UK, the index will be published at 18.00 UK time.The Fastmarkets price book and database for the steel billet index, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, will both be updated at that time.For more information, or t...Read More