The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In previous reports, we noted that upside risks to our forecasts existed. These were based on Chinese steel production, and in turn alloy consumption, outperforming our expectations.Chinese crude steel production is rising each month in a year-on-year comparison, prompting our revised view that Chinese alloy consumption will...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The Covid-19 pandemic and the associated impacts on steel production, mining and manufacturing activity, end-use consumption, and trade and transportation continue to dominate ferro-alloy markets. US steel mills are operating at around 50% of capacity, with similarly low operating rates evident in Europe as well. Chinese ste...Read More
Ferro-alloys prices have generally retreated over the past month, with demand concerns gaining in prominence.The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Ferro-alloy pricing trends have generally diverged ove the past month, depending on the security of the supply-side position of the market. With most supply concerns fading with the resumption of industrial activity i...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.There has been an increasing bullishness in Chinese steel market sentiment recently, with rising post-Covid-19 optimism about the country's economy for the second half of 2020, especially after the government announced an infrastructure spending boost. Although we believe that high prices are justified, they remain far from...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Heavy rains in China, which can negatively affect iron ore supplies and pig iron production, and bolster demand for scrap, continued in July 2020. Although this was more an upside risk to our bearish base case one month ago, Chinese scrap prices remained strong. The firm prices gained support from the rains and from a more g...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This year has come with several unexpected events which increased the bullish case for iron ore prices, while the Chinese government's spending on infrastructure is likely to boost iron ore demand and add upside support to prices. But supply disruptions and a demand surge which caused price spikes are now easing. We do not e...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' teamof analysts are ready to view.Chinese crude steel production outperformed our expectations with its recovery since the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Crude steel output was up by 2.3% year-on-year in the first half of 2020 to 503 million tonnes, and we have revised upward what was initially a more bearish forecast for this year. We now estimate that product...Read More
The latest forecast from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.As we enter the summer season across the northern hemisphere, almost half a year has passed since the Covid-19 pandemic began to seriously affect Europe and the United States.One would not really be able to tell that such a dramatic event had occurred by looking at stainless steel prices, however, because they are more or less...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices are relatively stable this month, showing little change since our previous tracker. Such stability masks growing issues for stainless steelmakers, however, who are increasingly unable to pass on rising costs to consumers and are, thus, facing cuts to their margins.In general, this is due to an excess of...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices are on the increase in June. As far as this market is concerned, it appears as though the Covid-19 pandemic has had little impact so far, with prices on the most common grades of stainless steel just 2-4% lower than they were at the turn of the year in most markets.Even in Asia, a region often talked ab...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices have fared relatively well over the past couple of months in the face of the threat from the Covid-19 pandemic.In grade-304 material, the most common grade of stainless steel, prices were down by about 5-7% since the turn of the year - not bad, when compared with the falls in prices of other assets so f...Read More
Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil across Europe increased further over the week to Friday August 21, supported by significant offer increase announced by some European mills.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was calculated at ?,?433.75 ($513.83) per tonne on Friday, up by ?,?14.58 per tonne week on week and up by ?,?26.08 per tonne month on mont...Read More
The domestic price of hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe jumped day-on-day on Monday August 24, supported by the absence of competitive imports and reduced domestic output, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was calculated at ?,?443.75 ($523.40) per tonne on Monday, up by ?,?10.00 per tonne from ?,?433.75 per tonne on August...Read More
US miner Nevada Copper has restarted milling operations at its underground copper project at Pumpkin Hollow, the company said on Monday August 24.Copper production at the project - located in Yerington, Nevada - was temporarily suspended due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the...Read More
London-based mining private-equity company Appian Capital Advisory has appointed Nelson Silva, a former director at Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras, to be its senior safety and social performance adviser, it said on Monday August 24.Silva will take the role of assisting with environmental, health, safety and community issues on Appian's mining portfolio, the company added.Appian operat...Read More
Bolivia-based zinc-lead producer Minera San Crist??bal halted production indefinitely on Monday August 24 to ensure its workers' health and safety, because the local Covid-19 infection rate has climbed, the company said.Employees and contractors have been removed from the site since August 19 and would be kept away until August 26, the miner said in a statement published on its official website on...Read More
Jean Goldschmidt International (JGI) and Zinc Nacional (ZN) have entered into an agreement to acquire the zinc recycling business of Harz-Metall GmbH (HMG) in Lower Saxony, Germany. The transaction is subject to different conditions regarding the transfer of the real estate of HMG, JGI said in a release on Friday August 21. The company did not disclose the price for the deal. "For purposes of...Read More
London-based metals trading firm Amalgamet Ltd, part of Amalgamated Metal Corp (AMC Group), is expanding its commodity trade finance business, it said on Friday August 21."Amalgamet Ltd will look to build relationships with producers, manufacturers, traders and end-users in the minor metals industry to offer an alternative financing route from the usual banks," the company said.It trades in non-fe...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were up during morning trading on Monday August 24, with market optimism over a Covid-19 vaccine rising after US regulators approved the use of convalescent blood plasma as a treatment option, while continued weakness in the US dollar index also provided support. Total coronavirus deaths in the United States have now surpassed 175,000 acc...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have climbed back above $24 per hundredweight ($480 per short ton) on modestly rising demand and longer lead times. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $24.16 per cwt ($483.20 per ton) on Monday August 24, up by 2.5% from $23.57 per cwton Friday August 21 and up by 2.1% from $23.67 per cwt a week ago on August 17...Read More