The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US market at risk of slidingPrices for pipe products were at a floor in the United States in mid-August, and have been broadly stable at that level since the start of the second quarter, but they are at risk of declining further in the coming months.Drilling rig counts have yet to find a floor and have fallen below most esti...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.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
Domestic long steel prices have gone down in Turkey over the past week in line with poor demand and a slight recovery in the Turkish currency, sources said on Thursday August 20.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Turkey, was 3,790-3,810 ($516-519) per tonne on Thursday, slightly down from the 3,810-3,870 lira per tonne of last week.The steel mills...Read More
Fastmarkets has made corrections to its daily calculations of nickel and copper physical metal arbitrage into China, after input errors led to inaccurate figures being published. From August 3 to August 17, Fastmarkets published its nickel import arbitrage, $/tonne and nickel import arbitrage, yuan/tonne calculations based on a bonded warehouse nickel premium of $110 per tonne. They shou...Read More
The LME three-month copper price was the biggest faller in morning trading on Thursday August 20, dropping by 1.7% against a slight uptick in the US dollar index, while a fresh cancellation supported the nickel price.Copper's outright price on the London Metal Exchange was recently trading at $6,575.50 per tonne on Thursday morning, wiping out gains made on Wednesday after closing at its highest l...Read More
A summary of producer South32's financial results for the year ended June 30, 2020.In briefSouth32's underlying earnings were down by 81% in the 2020 financial year at $193 million, compared with $992 million in the prior financial year, with volatile macroeconomic conditions affecting the prices of key commodities. Statutory profit after tax declined by $454 million to a loss of $65 million in 20...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly weaker this morning, Thursday August 20, as were Asian-Pacific and pre-market major western equity index futures. Gold prices are rebounding after Wednesday's 3.3% sell-off.US equities retreated on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve minutes highlighted concerns about the US recovery.Base metals The three-month base metals pri...Read More
China's domestic stainless steel prices rose for an eighth week reach their highest since February 19, while export prices too have risen to levels not seen since late last year.A weakening of the US dollar pushed up prices for commodities, including nickel, which then drove up stainless steel prices, an industry analyst in Shanghai said.The three-month nickel contract on the London Metal Exchange...Read More
A look at hot-rolled coil prices around the globe. Tighter divergence. As of mid-August, prices for hot-rolled coil in the United States have remained below those in China, continuing a trend that began on July 10, according to Fastmarkets' pricing records. The reversal of normal trends - Chinese prices are typically well below US levels - resulted from US domestic prices remaining under...Read More
Prices for domestic and imported rebar in the United States were stable on Wednesday August 19, with market participants expecting prices to remain unchanged heading into late summer.US marketFastmarkets' assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), fob mill US was unchanged at $28 per hundredweight ($560 per short ton) on Wednesday August 19.According to one trader, domestic prices should remain...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States remain up week over week on longer mill lead times and expectations of higher ferrous scrap prices in September.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $23.76 per hundredweight ($475.20 per short ton) on Thursday August 20, down by 0.4% from $23.85 per cwt on Wednesday August 19 but up by 1.9% from $23.31 per cwt a w...Read More
Prices for imported flat-rolled steel remain well above domestic prices despite recent gains in US tags, market participants said.The result: The market for foreign flat-rolled steel continues to be sluggish because US buyers have little reason to buy steel that won't arrive until the fourth quarter and - assuming current market conditions persist - at higher prices than domestic material, sources...Read More
The domestic hot-rolled coil price in Northern Europe moved up on Thursday August 20, following producers' bullish pricing policy, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at ?,?431.88 ($514.26) per tonne on Thursday August 20, up by ?,?4.38 from ?,?427.50 per tonne on Wednesday based on deals and achievable prices h...Read More
Imported billet and domestic rebar prices remained stable in Egypt because of weak demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday, August 20.The reason demand was slow is that billet prices have stopped increasing, so end-product prices have also fallen, Egyptian sources said.Fastmarkets' daily steel billet...Read More
Imports of steelmaking raw materials into the United States fell by 12.9% month on month in June, with a sharp drop in pig iron deliveries outweighing a rise in shipments of ferrous scrap and direct-reduced iron (DRI), according to the latest US Census Bureau figures.Raw material imports totaled 654,484 tonnes in June, down from 751,732 tonnes in May but up slightly from 647,529 tonnes i...Read More
The seaborne premium hard coking coal fob index edged up on Thursday August 20 due to the bullish market sentiment from India, while Chinese participants, however, still feel trapped by a lack of coking coal import quotas, Fastmarkets heard.Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $104.17 per tonne, up $0.61 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $114.60 per tonne, up $...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices were largely stable on Thursday August 20 in a much calmer market than the previous three days of trading, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $129.32 per tonne, up $0.23 per tonne 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $128.59 per tonne, up $0.20 per tonne.58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $114.95 per tonne, up $0.4...Read More
The cascade of cargoes booked by Bangladeshi mills from United States recyclers continued over the past week to Thursday August 20, with two more deals heard, sources told Fastmarkets. Demand for scrap in Bangladesh has ballooned over the past month, with mill capacity utilization rising at the country's three largest mills, and scrap stocks at steelmakers depleting. A Bangladeshi mill bought a bu...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices weakened on Thursday August 20, but a mill was reported to have secured an order from South America at a price above prevailing levels.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,060-4,070 yuan ($587-589) per tonne, down 10-20 yuan per tonnePrices weakened on Thursday after downstream buyers held back from placing orders in response to HRC futures tumbling during th...Read More