Continued growth in China's automotive sales and output during October has underpinned prices for some key upstream raw materials.China produced a total of 2.55 million vehicles last month, an increase of 11% from a year earlier, according to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) on Wednesday November 11. This marked the seventh consecutive month that both outpu...Read More
Tata Steel has initiated discussions with Swedish steelmaker SSAB over the sale of its IJmuiden plant in The Netherlands, the company said on Friday November 13.Tata Steel has also initiated the process of splitting its main European operations - Tata Steel Netherlands and Tata Steel UK - with the aim of pursuing separate strategic paths for the two businesses. "Tata Steel...Read More
Continued growth in China's automotive sales and output during October has underpinned prices for some key upstream raw materials.China produced a total of 2.55 million vehicles last month, an increase of 11% from a year earlier, according to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) on Wednesday November 11. This marked the seventh consecutive month that both outpu...Read More
US hot-rolled coil prices continue to hover around $36 per hundredweight ($720 per ton) amid fears that scant spot availability could snarl downstream supply chains, market participants said.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $35.96 per hundredweight on Friday November 13, little changed from $36 per cwt on November 12 and up 4.4% from $34.43 per cwt a we...Read More
Export prices for Brazil-origin steel slab increased in the week ended Friday November 13, with offer levels continuing to rise and only limited volumes available.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob main port Brazil, narrowed upward by $15 per tonne to $515-540 per tonne on Friday, from $500-540 per tonne a week earlier.Offers to the United States remained at $540 per...Read More
Import prices for flat-rolled steel rose sharply in South America during the week to Friday November 13, with negotiations for January shipments starting to settle faster than expected due to drastically higher offers from China, market participants told Fastmarkets."China is increasing prices fast, and there is no doubt those higher offers are becoming predominant," one Brazil-based trader source...Read More
Aluminium primary foundry alloy (PFA) premiums in Europe rose to near pre-Covid-19 levels on Friday November 13 due to strengthening demand, while the premium in the United States held at the previous monthly assessment range in quiet conditions.European premiums up on demand recoveryPFA premiums continued to move higher, with demand in the region remaining strong due to fears of Covid-19-related...Read More
The Shanghai Futures Exchange aluminium price rose to a three-year high on Friday November 13 on expectations of a better macroeconomic environment following the end of the United States presidential election campaign as well as good downstream demand, according to market participants. The most active aluminium price on the SHFE hit 15,700 yuan ($2,373) per tonne on November 13, up 1% or 150...Read More
The seaborne premium hard coking coal cfr price edged up on Friday November 13 due to continued restrictions on Australian coal imports, while seaborne coking coal fob prices across the board remained flat, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $104.40 per tonne, unchanged Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $153.58 per tonne, up $0.51 per tonneHard co...Read More
An overview of the aerospace materials markets and the latest price moves.Fastmarkets has reworked the market reports...Read More
A price rise was achieved in a fresh contract for CIS-origin steel billet with a customer in Latin America, as had been expected earlier this week, Fastmarkets learnt on Friday November 13.A 35,000-tonne cargo of Ukraine-origin billet was sold to Peru at $430 per tonne fob Black Sea. According to market participants, the material was of basic grade so no extra payments were included.Optimism preva...Read More
Secondary aluminium alloy prices continued to firm in the United States on Thursday November 12, but in recent months, gains on one alloy - benchmark A380.1 - have outpaced others, squeezing spreads to historically narrow levels.The benchmark secondary alloy A380.1 ticked up again on Thursday, marking its 14th consecutive weekly increase.Fastmarkets assessed aluminium alloy A380.1, delivered Midwe...Read More
Copper's three-month price was the biggest riser on the London Metal Exchange on Friday November 13, with the price moving up by 2.5% by the close, even as its trading volumes remained relatively low. The red metal's price rose to $6,982.50 per tonne at the 5pm close on Friday, up by 2.5% from Thursday's $6,934-per-tonne closing price, after a week marked by the result of the United States preside...Read More
Aluminium billet premiums in Europe rose during the week to Friday November 13, with strong spot demand and low nearby supply driving premiums higher. Fastmarkets assessed the aluminium 6063 extrusion billet premium, ddp North Germany (Ruhr region) at $300-340 per tonne on Friday, up by $10 on the high end from $300-330 per tonne the week before. Fastmarkets' weekly assessment of the aluminium 606...Read More
Copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TC/RC) fell in the second week of November while smelters in need of tonnes took to the market for nearby cargoes, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 13.Copper TC/RCs have ticked down after the range for spot terms between traders and smelters narrowed. As a result, Fastmarkets' copper concentrates TC index, cif Asia Pacific came in at $4...Read More
Aubris AG, Europe's largest copper smelter, announced a new joint venture company focused on cable recycling with German company TSR Recycling on Friday November 13. Aurubis, headquartered in Hamburg, said it will unite the cable dismantling activities of its subsidiary, Cablo Metall-Recycling und Handel (Cablo), with those from TSR's site in Gelsenkirchen. The main goal of the joint venture will...Read More
An overview of the new energy raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Susan Zou, Sally Zhang, Carrie Shi, Jon Stibbs, Cristina Belda,...Read More
Key information from the pricing session for Fastmarkets' alumina index, fob Australia on Friday November 13.Fastmarkets' alumina index, fob Australia has been mostly between $271 per tonne and $275 per tonne over the past month.Key drivers Alumina prices have been mostly static over the week with higher aluminium prices supporting the current market level despite weak demand.The London Metal Exch...Read More
The US Department of Commerce has set affirmative preliminary anti-dumping margins against imports of pre-stressed concrete (PC) steel wire strand from Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, South Africa, Spain, Tunisia and Ukraine. Commerce found that PC strand was dumped into the United States at the following rates: Indonesia: 2.96-72.28% Italy: 3.67-19.26% Malaysia: 3.70-18.93% South Africa: 59.27% Spain...Read More
A summary of Tata Steel's financial results for the third quarter of 2020, running from July to September.In brief Quarterly deliveries at India operations rose by 22% year-on-year. Tata Steel is now in talks with Swedish steelmaker SSAB for a sale of its IJmuiden plant in the Netherlands. The producer has initiated a process to separate Tata Steel Netherlands and Tata Steel UK, and will pursue se...Read More