There are many crosswinds for the markets to contend with this morning, Wednesday July 1, with better manufacturing data in Asia and interest rate cuts in China, but a deteriorating Covid-19 situation - especially in parts of the Americas - and raised geopolitical tension over Hong Kong.China's Caixin and Japan's manufacturing purchasing managers' indices (PMIs) climbed to 51.2 from 50.7 and 40.1...Read More
An overview of the noble alloys markets and their latest price moves.Read More
The European Union has extended anti-dumping duties on ferro-silicon imported from China and Russia for another five years, according to a release from the European Commission on Wednesday July 1. The EU will extend the duties for a period of five years until July 1, 2025 from Thursday July 2, 2020. Chinese and Russian ferro-silicon exports to the EU will be subject to duties as follows: from Chin...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday July 1.Key drivers Persistently quiet trading activity in recent weeks has seen lower offer prices in the past week, with suppliers and buyers making tentative inquiries amid uncertain near term demand. All markets are now back at levels last seen in January 2017. Industry talk centers on cheaper offer prices from China into Europe,...Read More
Fastmarkets proposes to refine the names of its global aluminium wheel alloy silicon 7 ingot premiums to reflect the material's usage in the market. The aluminium wheel alloy silicon 7 ingot premiums are commonly known in the market as primary foundry alloy (PFA) or aluminium alloy silicon 7 premiums. The reference to "wheel" in the name is now outdated and market participants say the uses for the...Read More
The range in refining charges (RC) paid for copper intermediate products cif China diverged in June due to traders willing to agree lower fees for tonnages and smelters less desperate for blister copper amid sufficient domestic scrap supply. Fastmarkets assessed the copper blister 98-99% RC spot, cif China at $110-132 per tonne on June 30, down by $5 per tonne on the low end but up by $7 per...Read More
Markets participants are in an optimistic mood while they focus on economic data that is improving and hopes of a Covid-19 vaccine this morning, Thursday July 2, while apparently choosing not to focus on the havoc that the pandemic is causing.* US total vehicle sales climbed to an annualized 13.1 million units in June, after 8.7 million units in May; sales were around 17 million in 2019. * Spanish...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 39 points in pre-opening trade.Equity index futures moved higher following economic news released at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for Weekly Initial Jobless Claims was 1,355,000 versus 1,480,000 million last week. Actual was1,427,000 million. Consensus for June Non-farm Payrolls was an increase to 3.000 million from 2.509 mi...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday June 30 that are worth another look.The definitive decision in the European steel safeguard case review failed to adjust the level of quotas to collapsed demand following Covid-19 crisis and is a "deep disappointment," European steel association Eurofer and European trade union IndustriAll said in a joint statement on June 30.Chine...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month copper price closed above $6,000 per tonne for the first time since January 23 on Tuesday June 30.The price was buoyed by high-volume trading amid supply concerns brought on by the closure of Codelco's Chuquicamata smelter in Chile amid the Covid-19 infection in the country.The LME three-month copper price closed up by a fairly modest 0.8% at $6,015 per tonne...Read More
Swiss metal merchant MRI Trading has appointed Markus Nunnenmacher as its new chief executive officer, with longstanding head Iain Paterson stepping down from the role effective from July 1."This change represents an agreed retirement transition process whereby Iain Paterson will continue to serve as the President of the Board of Directors of MRI for...Read More
Solgold is set to take 100% control of its Ecuador copper-gold mine named Alpala, with the latest buy-out attempt from a company that holds a minority stake in the project, Fastmarkets understands.Solgold commenced an offer to buy all shares of Cornerstone Capital Resources, which holds a 15% stake in the Alpala project, Solgold said on Tuesday June 30. Alpala, located in the...Read More
Swiss metal merchant MRI Trading has appointed Markus Nunnenmacher as its new chief executive officer, with longstanding head Iain Paterson stepping down from the role effective from July 1."This change represents an agreed retirement transition process whereby Iain Paterson will continue to serve as the President of the Board of Directors of MRI for...Read More
The European markets for both high- and low-carbon ferro-chrome, delivered, softened in the week ended Friday June 26 in response to weak consumption.Both consumers and producers of ferro-chrome said that they would be reducing their outputs by more than usual during the summer slowdown in 2020, in response to the low economic activity.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment of the price for ferro-chrome,...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday June 30 that are worth another look.The definitive decision in the European steel safeguard case review failed to adjust the level of quotas to collapsed demand following Covid-19 crisis and is a "deep disappointment," European steel association Eurofer and European trade union IndustriAll said in a joint statement on June 30.Chine...Read More
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
Turkish steel producers continued to stay away from deep-sea scrap purchases in anticipation of lower prices, sources said on Tuesday June 30.Mills in the country booked only two deep-sea cargoes last week, totaling 67,500 tonnes. This was mainly because of weak finished long steel markets and falling prices, according to sources.Turkish...Read More
Chinese non-ferrous scrap importers largely stayed on the sidelines during June, with a lack of detail surrounding China's renaming of certain scrap metal as renewable materials causing participants to refrain from making any purchases. "Today is the last day of June and nothing new on customs codes and inspection procedures has been released from Chinese customs yet," an industry source said. The...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday June 30 that are worth another look.The definitive decision in the European steel safeguard case review failed to adjust the level of quotas to collapsed demand following Covid-19 crisis and is a "deep disappointment," European steel association Eurofer and European trade union IndustriAll said in a joint statement on June 30.Chine...Read More
Solgold is set to take 100% control of its Ecuador copper-gold mine named Alpala, with the latest buy-out attempt from a company that holds a minority stake in the project, Fastmarkets understands.Solgold commenced an offer to buy all shares of Cornerstone Capital Resources, which holds a 15% stake in the Alpala project, Solgold said on Tuesday June 30. Alpala, located in the...Read More