Three-month base-metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed at the 5pm close of trading on Thursday December 3, with nickel and aluminium showing drops of more than 1% but tin gaining by nearly $100 per tonne day-on-day.Nickel's price fell to $15,954 per tonne at Thursday's close, down by 0.3% from $16,000 per tonne on Wednesday, which in turn was down by 1.7% from Tuesday's three-month...Read More
Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices in both fob and cfr markets continued their uptrend on Thursday December 3, following an active trading day in the fob market the day before. Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $103.08 per tonne, up $0.75 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $168.78 per tonne, up $1.52 per tonne Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $90.80 per tonne,...Read More
The London Metal Exchange aluminium price increased by 9.8% over November but the high price continues to tighten the forward curve.It hit a fresh year-to-date high of $2,080 per tonne on December 2, 12% higher than the start of November when the price was just $1,844.50 per tonne and up 46% from the 2020 low of $1,424.50 per tonne in April.The recent November rally was the first time the LME thre...Read More
New bookings of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)-origin billet to Turkey and Southeast Asia were heard at higher prices this week, with suppliers continuing to push for increases.Market participants in other regions retained their wait-and-see stance, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday December 3.Billet offers were heard at $510-520 per tonne fob Black Sea from a few Russian suppliers; h...Read More
The domestic price for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe moved up again day-on-day on Thursday December 3 due to a materials shortage in the market, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?570.00 ($688.49) per tonne on Thursday, up by ?,?4.23 per tonne from ?,?565.77 per tonne on December 2.The index was up by ?,?...Read More
Fastmarkets will amend the settlement criteria for its MB-AL-0001 aluminium P1020A (MJP) quarterly premium, cif Japan, $ per tonne.Following the end of a six-week consultation, Fastmarkets has decided to change the criteria for settling the quarterly premium to the following: A minimum total quarterly transaction volume of 30,000 tonnes reported to Fastmarkets MB. Confirmed deals from multipl...Read More
The London Metal Exchange aluminium price increased by 9.8% over November but the high price continues to tighten the forward curve.It hit a fresh year-to-date high of $2,080 per tonne on December 2, 12% higher than the start of November when the price was just $1,844.50 per tonne and up 46% from the 2020 low of $1,424.50 per tonne in April.The recent November rally was the first time the LME thre...Read More
The recent surge in copper prices might not lead to swathes of scrap being suddenly released into the market, as happened after a similar situation nearly a decade ago, sources told Fastmarkets this week. With the copper price recently reaching a multi-year high, all eyes are on whether scrap collectors will release a massive amount of secondary material into the rising market. In 2...Read More
The three-month base metals were range trading on the morning of Thursday December 3 on the London Metal Exchange amid a dollar index that continues to dip and support the overall high prices, although aluminium bucked the trend by falling by 1.1%. The three-month aluminium price was recently at $2,032 per tonne, having reached a $2,010 per tonne low during early trading compared with $2,055 per t...Read More
China's domestic prices for stainless cold-rolled coil dropped slightly over the week ended Wednesday December 2 on reduced demand and a weaker nickel market.The three-month nickel contract on the London Metal Exchange ended the Wednesday official session at $15,906 per tonne, down by $122 per tonne $16,028 per tonne a week earlier. DomesticStainless steel cold-rolled coil 2mm grade 304 domestic (...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in China on Wednesday December 2.Key drivers Aluminium scrap prices have increased amid tightening supply after many cargoes were delayed to a shortage of containers in Asia. Scrap sellers held back from selling material on hand, expecting higher prices in the near term, which exacerbated the tight supply of aluminium scrap in the market. Strong gains in...Read More
Turkish steel billet prices have increased over the past week thanks to stronger scrap costs and despite slowing demand, market sources said on Thursday December 3.Suppliers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region continued to raise their offers despite low bids, because they were mostly fully booked until the end of the year.Offers from the CIS region were heard around $520-530 per...Read More
Steel billet and rebar prices increased in Egypt over the week to Thursday December 3 although demand was weak, sources told Fastmarkets.Demand for rebar and billet has been slow in the country since the imposition of a construction ban on May 25, however, the rules of the ban were eased on September 29.Buying was reportedly still weak because...Read More
Turkish domestic long steel prices have continued to strengthen on rising imported scrap costs, but overall demand was limited, sources said on Thursday December 3.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Turkey, was 4,900-5,030 lira ($625-641) per tonne on Thursday, up from the 4,800-4,850 lira per tonne of last week.The mills in the Izmir region were...Read More
Turkish rebar and wire rod export prices have continued to increase despite softening demand over the past week, sources said on Thursday December 3.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob main port Turkey, was $530-535 per tonne on Thursday, up from last week's $500-515 per tonne on an actual weight basis.Turkish steel producers raised their offers to $...Read More
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 November 2020.The case list below includes only updates. For other continuing cases this year, see the updates for October, September, August, July, June, May,...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices started to weaken again on Thursday December 3 amid pressure from market inventories being drawn down at a slower pace.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,010-4,040 yuan ($612-616) per tonne, down by 20 yuan per tonneConstruction activity is falling this week due to dropping temperatures. As such, rebar inventories are not being drawn down as quickly as in previous we...Read More
Anglo Pacific is poised to transform into a battery materials company next year and will make a number of transactions to achieve this, its chief executive officer said.Julien Treger said that the company - which has a portfolio of royalties and metal streams in mainly coal, iron ore and uranium - plans to focus its attention on lithium and cobalt, key raw materials used in the production of batte...Read More
Small and medium-sized steel mills in Bangladesh have been forced to re-enter the market for scrap at high prices, market participants said on Thursday December 3.The price paid for scrap imported to the South Asian country continued to mount over the last week with supply tightened on both rising international scrap demand and soaring ocean freight costs, Fastmarkets heard."Bangladeshi buyers hav...Read More
Iron ore prices rose again on Thursday December 3 amid further short-term supply shortage concerns due to the decrease in Vale's 2020 production guidance, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $137.08 per tonne, up $0.79 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $136.98 per tonne, up $1.18 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $125.72 per tonne...Read More