Steady buying over the afternoon brought the three-month zinc price on the London Metal Exchange higher at the close of trading on Monday June 29, eradicating the metal's morning price weakness, while nickel futures topped gains despite minimal volume traded on the day. Zinc's outright price on the LME closed at $2,061.50 per tonne, climbing from an intraday low of $2,020 per tonne, while turnover...Read More
Huaxing alumina refinery, in Shanxi province of northern China, has closed one alumina production line following an equipment accident, several sources told Fastmarkets on Monday June 29. It could take 20-30 days to return the production line to full operation, removing around 50,000-80,000 tonnes of alumina supply from the Chinese domestic market over the period, according to market estimates. Hu...Read More
Poor physical aluminium market conditions have forced people to store excess metal, pushing total aluminium stocks on the London Metal Exchange to more than 1.6 million tonnes.Aluminium stocks rose by 2.9% last week, up for a seventh consecutive week, with inventories now sitting at their highest level since April 2017.Current on-warrant stock levels now stand at 1.6 million tonnes - 108% higher t...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange consolidated higher during morning trading on Monday June 29, although it remained firmly below the $6,000 per tonne threshold. Copper's outright price on the LME was recently at $5,956.50 per tonne, up from a morning low of $5,924 per tonne, but firmly below the $6,000 per tonne threshold, despite spiking above the resistance level on Frid...Read More
Prices for domestic and imported merchant bar quality (MBQ) steel in the United States again remained flat this month while market participants reported that demand was rising, although only modestly in some locations. Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for steel bar 2 x 2 x 1/4 -inch angle merchant products, fob mill US was $33.80 per hundredweight ($676 per short ton) on Friday June 26, unc...Read More
Prices for steel plate in the United States weakened for the first time since early May after mills grew slightly more flexible on post-hike pricing in an effort to book enough orders to find destinations for the current pace of rollings.But participants emphasized that pricing stability remains the prevailing theme in the plate market. They credit the plate mills' two rounds of price-increase ann...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have slipped below $24 per hundredweight ($480 per short ton) on stagnant demand and high inventory levels.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $23.70 per cwt ($474 per ton) on Monday June 29, a 1.3% decline from $24 per cwt on Friday June 26 and off by 4.9% from $24.92 per cwt a week earlier on June 22. Inputs we...Read More
Egypt consumed 312,000 tonnes of rebar in May 2020, 35.36% less than the 482,700 tonnes consumed in May 2019, Egyptian sources told Fastmarkets.This is the lowest rebar consumption figure for the last ten years, sources noted. Comparatively, Egypt consumed 452,800 tonnes of rebar in April 2020, sources said.If consumption continues to fall at this rate, market sources expect the country's annual r...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices fell on Monday June 29 amid thin trading resulting from floods in various parts of the country.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,710-3,730 yuan ($524-527) per tonne, down 10-20 yuan per tonneA Shanghai-based trader said that floods and heavy rain across the country had let to a weakening of HRC demand.Local media reported last Saturday that floods across 2...Read More
Turkish domestic scrap prices have gone down over the past week in line with the latest downturn in imported deep-sea scrap values, sources said on Monday June 29.Several steel producers decreased their domestic buy prices for both auto bundle and shipbreaking scrap last week.Long and flat steelmaker ??olakoglu cut its buy price for auto bundle scrap by 60 lira per tonne to 1,885 lira ($275) per t...Read More
Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices were largely stable on Monday June 29 due to a lack of trading, but most market participants expect hard coking coal prices to climb in line with the earlier increase in premium hard coking coal prices.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $113.57 per tonne, down $0.22 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $122.81 per tonne, dow...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices fell on Monday June 29 due to a weak demand outlook, reflecting heavy rainfall in several parts of China and fresh pollution control restrictions imposed on mills in Tangshan for the month of July. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $99.85 per tonne, down $3.49 per tonne. 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $102.45 per tonne, down $4.04 per to...Read More
Trading activity for seaborne iron ore concentrate and pellets was limited last week due to Chinese holidays on Thursday and Friday.Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 66% Fe concentrate, cfr Qingdao stood at $109.83 per tonne last Friday June 26, down by $2.67 per tonne from $112.50 per tonne a week earlier. Sources said demand for seaborne concentrate was subdued during the week due to the availabil...Read More
Mining company BHP Group and steel producer China Baowu Steel Group have completed their first iron ore trade on MineHub Technologies Inc's blockchain-based platform. The platform, which was launched in October 2019, aims to improve efficiency in trading operations and in environmental and social governance (ESG) compliance in the mining and metals supply chains.MineHub said the trade marks the fi...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices dropped on Monday June 29 to track falling futures amid a pessimistic outlook of demand during the rainy season.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,530-3,560 yuan ($504-508) per tonne, down by 30 yuan per tonneMost parts of eastern and southern China are experiencing heavy rain that is forecast to persist over the next three days. Such weather shortens the working ho...Read More
Asian-Pacific equities and pre-market European equity index futures were weaker this morning, Monday June 29, but base metals prices were for the most part firmer. Nikkei led on the downside this morning with losses of 2.21%.Covid-19 surges in some southern US states, with 2.5 million confirmed cases reported in the country.Profits in China's industrial sector showed growth of 6% year on year in M...Read More
The cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparency into the markets it covers and the pricing process...Read More
The cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparency into the markets it covers and the pricing process...Read More
The latest data for the global manganese ore market for the week ended June 29, 2020.Read More
Covid-19 has exposed the overdependence and vulnerability in the electric vehicle (EV) supply chain, which supports the development of other regional battery production hubs in the coming years, panellists said in a Fastmarkets webinar last week."There is growing nationalism and regionalism [and] coronavirus has been a wake-up call for how dependent industries are on China," Emily Hersh, managing...Read More