Crude steel output in Italy increased by 9.69% year-on-year in August 2020, due to local steelmakers taking summer stoppages that were shorter than usual because of the Covid-19 lockdown measures in March-April, Italian steel association Federacciai said on Tuesday September 22.The country's crude steel production amounted to 939,000 tonnes in August, up from 856,000 tonnes in the corresponding mo...Read More
Steel producers in Turkey extended their absence from the deep-sea scrap markets again amid weak finished steel demand, sources said on Tuesday September 22.The country's steel mills have been holding back from the deep-sea trade since September 9, when the most recent cargoes were booked at prices around $301 per tonne cfr on an HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis.Offer levels for similar material then rose to...Read More
The mood in the CIS export billet market has become downbeat in the second half of September, amid a lack of purchasing interest on the customers' side.Fastmarkets' daily steel billet index, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $411 per tonne on Tuesday September 22, down by $1 per tonne day on day.Offers from mills were scarce, varying within the range of $415-420 per tonne fob Black Sea. Sellers refe...Read More
The recent uptrend in the CIS export steel slab market persisted in the week to Monday September 21, driven by demand in Turkey, Fastmarkets has learnt.The weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $460-472 per tonne on September 22, up from $460-465 per tonne week on week.A cargo of Ukraine-origin slab was heard sold to the Middle Eastern country at slightly above $4...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US flat-rolled prices began to recover in August, as we expected. The monthly average of our daily HRC index hit $473 per ton ($521/tonne), which was $3/t above our forecast.The upward momentum has since continued and has done so more quickly than we expected - sentiment has turned around dramatically on fundamental developm...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday September 22 that are worth another look.Swiss stainless steelmaker Schmolz + Bickenbach has had its proposal to change the company name approved by shareholders, it said in a press release on Monday September 21.Read More
Fastmarkets is proposing to introduce fallback measures to its two Chinese vanadium fob price assessments amid a significant drop in spot liquidity in China's vanadium export market.Since the second half of 2019, Chinese exporters' interest in shipping vanadium products abroad has been stifled because Chinese prices have been much higher than their European counterparts, which has persisted so far...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday September 22 that are worth another look.Swiss stainless steelmaker Schmolz + Bickenbach has had its proposal to change the company name approved by shareholders, it said in a press release on Monday September 21.Read More
The Chinese steel engine that powered on for a good six months after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic is finally starting to lose steam, according to market sources.Booming domestic demand and equally strong local steel prices had been the savior of steelmakers everywhere in the second and most of the third quarter of 2020, which either indirectly improved sentiment in Asia or opened arbitrage w...Read More
China has released the 12th batch of solid import licenses approving an additional 2,610 tonnes of ferrous scrap, according to a notice reported by China Solid Waste & Chemical Management (CSWCM) on Thursday September 17. China has approved 23,100 tonnes of ferrous scrap imports to date this year, the data at CSWCM shows. Major buyers in this round include casting plants and trading houses in east...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday September 22 that are worth another look.Swiss stainless steelmaker Schmolz + Bickenbach has had its proposal to change the company name approved by shareholders, it said in a press release on Monday September 21.Read More
The London Metal Exchange's three-month prices for copper and nickel were once more trading in positive territory during the afternoon session on Tuesday September 22, retracing losses made on the previous day's slump in US equities values.Copper and nickel futures are both particularly sensitive to the macro-economic environment at present, with both metals' LME three-month prices falling on the...Read More
The mood in the CIS export billet market has become downbeat in the second half of September, amid a lack of purchasing interest on the customers' side.Fastmarkets' daily steel billet index, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $411 per tonne on Tuesday September 22, down by $1 per tonne day on day.Offers from mills were scarce, varying within the range of $415-420 per tonne fob Black Sea. Sellers refe...Read More
The recent uptrend in the CIS export steel slab market persisted in the week to Monday September 21, driven by demand in Turkey, Fastmarkets has learnt.The weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $460-472 per tonne on September 22, up from $460-465 per tonne week on week.A cargo of Ukraine-origin slab was heard sold to the Middle Eastern country at slightly above $4...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday September 22 that are worth another look.Swiss stainless steelmaker Schmolz + Bickenbach has had its proposal to change the company name approved by shareholders, it said in a press release on Monday September 21.Read More
Plans for a London Metal Exchange spot trading platform have sparked intense debate within the aluminium industry. But opponents and supporters don't necessarily fall into the camps that one might expect. For starters, a decision by the LME not to change its futures contract, establish a new green aluminium contract or set thresholds to define what constitutes low-carbon metal is proving key in st...Read More
Sometimes it is better to let a situation speak for itself. Alcoa, Rio Tinto Aluminium, Novelis, Constellium, Arconic, Kaiser Aluminum, Tri-Arrows Aluminum, American Metal Chemical Corp, Hydro Extrusion North America, JW Aluminum, Real Alloy, Reynolds Consumer Products, Scepter, Silberline Manufacturing Co, Smelter Service Corp and Wagstaff. The US Aluminum Association, which represents more than...Read More
The London Metal Exchange is looking for ways to boost its options market, which has been struggling for some years to replicate the growth seen in the same sector among its peers.The exchange has launched a consultation, scheduled to end on July 29, on developing electronic options via a new trading platform while retaining its current inter-office options trading structure.Items up for discussio...Read More
The London Metal Exchange's three-month prices for copper and nickel were once more trading in positive territory during the afternoon session on Tuesday September 22, retracing losses made on the previous day's slump in US equities values.Copper and nickel futures are both particularly sensitive to the macro-economic environment at present, with both metals' LME three-month prices falling on the...Read More
Seaborne cfr coking coal prices climbed by more than 2% day on day on Tuesday September 22 and, despite some doubts about Chinese steel mill import quotas and the idea that prices were too high already, most market participants expected to see an uptrend. Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $129.01 per tonne, up $0.22 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $...Read More