China's domestic rebar prices decreased on Thursday October 21 on weaker demand amid plunging futures. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 5,630-5,680 yuan ($881-888) per tonne, down by 60-70 yuan per tonneChina's biggest thermal coal producer, China Energy Investment Corp (China Energy), said during the day that it would raise production and lower prices. This led to thermal coal futures falling t...Read More
Nickel prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange shot up to an all-time high during morning trading on Thursday October 21 amid a possible export ban on raw materials by Indonesia, among other bullish market dynamics.SHFE nickel was trading at 160,300 yuan ($25,071) per tonne at 11.30am Shanghai time, up by 10,720 yuan per tonne (7.17%) from a closing price of 149,580 yuan per tonne on Wednesday.Ind...Read More
Steelmakers in China will likely keep their production rates low in the fourth quarter of 2021 amid pollution controls and tight electricity supply even though they still seem to have a lot of "quota" left for the year, market participants say.In the first nine months of this year, China produced 805.89 million tonnes of crude steel, according to the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)....Read More
Turkish reinforcing bar and wire rod export prices continued to increase over the past week due to strengthening scrap costs, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday October 21.Turkish steel mills continued their deep-sea ferrous scrap purchases this week, with prices exceeding $500 per tonne for an 80:20 mix of No1 and No2 heavy melting scrap.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap HMS...Read More
A summary of the third-quarter iron ore production results from 2021 from Anglo American, published on Thursday October 21.In brief ?EUR?Iron ore production increased by 15%, driven primarily by a 22% increase at Minas Rio and partially by a 11% increase at Kumba. ?EUR?Total production at Kumba increased, reflecting the improved processing plant availability and reliability. ?EUR?Production at...Read More
Base metal prices on the London Metal Exchange were down across the board at the 5pm close of trading on Thursday October 21, with market participants beginning to sell off material following the recent price rally.The three-month aluminium price fell by 5.2% to $2,910 per tonne on Thursday, down from $3,069.50 per tonne at Wednesday's 5pm close after trading in large volumes and more than 34,180...Read More
Rio Tinto will invest $7.5 billion to reduce emissions and meet its carbon targets earlier than planned, the company announced on Wednesday September 20.Following more ambitious climate targets by governments, Rio Tinto is revising its emissions reduction targets. Its new target is to reduce its Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions of the greenhouse gas (GHG) Protocol by 50% by 2030, more than triple...Read More
Iron ore prices were largely down on Thursday October 21, following the bearish mood in terms of steel prices and demand, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $116.93 per tonne,down $7.14 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $118.68 per tonne,down $6.53 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $88.98 per tonne,down $5.99 per tonn...Read More
Seaborne coking coal cfr prices increased following a trade on Thursday, while despite a fall in the futures market, coking coal prices in the physical market stayed reasonably strong, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $615.52 per tonne, up $3.40 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $565.06 per tonne, up $1.69 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $...Read More
Rio Tinto will invest $7.5 billion to reduce emissions and meet its carbon targets earlier than planned, the company announced on Wednesday September 20.Following more ambitious climate targets by governments, Rio Tinto is revising its emissions reduction targets. Its new target is to reduce its Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions of the greenhouse gas (GHG) Protocol by 50% by 2030, more than triple...Read More
Domestic alumina prices in China continued to climb in the week to Thursday October 21, with new transactions being made on an as-needed basis, Fastmarkets has heard.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for alumina, metallurgical grade, exw China, was 3,900-4,150 yuan ($610-649) per tonne on Thursday, up by 100-150 yuan per tonne from 3,800-4,000 yuan last week.Alumina prices have now reached a 13...Read More
The collapse of the iron ore market and market turbulence over Chinese property developer Evergrande Group are adding to the economic woes caused by the Delta variant of Covid-19 for much of this year.It is hard to find bright sparks in the months ahead for the ferrous supply chain, which has been buffeted repeatedly in a short span of few months, starting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's comment...Read More
Cobalt sulfate prices have trended upward since early September this year due to continuously higher raw materials costs and the rising cost of chemical auxiliary materials despite thin downstream demand, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' assessment of the cobalt sulfate 20.5% Co basis, exw China price was assessed at 89,000-93,000 yuan ($13,914-14,539) per tonne on Wednesday October 20,...Read More
Domestic hot-rolled coil prices across Europe edged down on Thursday October 21 on reduced end-user demand, and trading activity remained limited, sources told Fastmarkets. The ongoing global shortage of semiconductors has caused automakers in Europe to reduce output and, consequently, to cut flat-steel purchases, market sources said.Moreover, market participants have suggested that some major aut...Read More
Reduced operations at steel rerolling mills in several key cities across China have hurt prices for steel billet in China's local and import markets, sources said on Thursday October 21.The northern Chinese steelmaking hub Tangshan ordered rerolling mills in its Fengrun district to suspend production from October 21 to 31 to improve air quality, market participants told Fastmarkets.The production...Read More
A top European pension fund has sold its interest in Swiss commodity trader and miner Glencore, citing sustainability risks, including cobalt production in Africa. A major global pension fund, ABP announced that it has sold its shares in mining/trading firm Glencore on Friday October 15. "ABP has sold its interest in Glencore. The mining company faces...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mainly stronger during morning trading on Friday October 22, but those on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were largely down – this follows significant losses on the LME on Thursday.* Chinese property giant Evergrande Group makes a dollar bond interest payment.* US treasury yields up sharply following better-than-expected US initial jobless cl...Read More
The three-month copper contract is trading near record highs on the London Metal Exchange, cash prices are rising even faster, and inventories are descending toward zero. Try running a hedge book in those conditions.It's been a very real quandary facing the physical trade and industry, which awoke on Tuesday October 19 to find copper's cash to November spread had flared to a backwardation of more...Read More
Iron ore prices were largely down on Thursday October 21, following the bearish mood in terms of steel prices and demand, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $116.93 per tonne,down $7.14 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $118.68 per tonne,down $6.53 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $88.98 per tonne,down $5.99 per tonn...Read More
Freeport-McMoRan retained its forecast for 2021 copper sales at around 3.85 billion lbs, or 1.75 million tonnes, and third-quarter sales were higher year on year due to the ramp up of underground mining and the timing of shipments at its Indonesian operations.Third-quarter copper sales were 1.033 billion lbs, or 468,560 tonnes, more or less unchanged from the prior quarter but up from 848 million...Read More