While increased domestic flat steel prices could invite more imports into the United States, according to market participants, preliminary Census data shows that shipments of finished steel products in April declined on a year-on-year basis.Domestic flat-rolled steel prices have gone up in the past two weeks as a result of higher scrap costs, slowly recovering demand and mills' second attempt to r...Read More
The European Commission (EC) has received a request for a review of existing anti-dumping measures applied to hot-rolled coil products from Russian steelmaker Severstal, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday May 28.The EC set definitive duties on HRC from Russia at a fixed rate of ?,?17.60 ($19.33) per tonne in October 2017. The Russian steelmaker was assigned the lowest rate of duty am...Read More
ArcelorMittal has restarted operations in the hot zone at its Zenica plant in Bosnia this week, and plans to re-open the rolling mills in June, the company's spokesperson told Fastmarkets on Thursday May 28.Last week, ArcelorMittal decided to pause its Bosnian operations for 10 days due to a sharp drop in steel demand in the region.The company put its blast furnace, wth capacity for 1.1 million to...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices increased slightly on news of fresh cargo deals heard on Thursday May 28.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a European cargo, comprising 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $246 per tonne, 5,000 tonnes of shredded at $251 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of bonus at $256 per tonne cfr.Another steel mill in the same region...Read More
Seaborne iron ore went up on Thursday May 28 with mid-grade iron ores such as Newman fines and Pilbara Blend fines from Australia performing well, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $97.09 per tonne, up $1.72 per tonne. 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $98.89 per tonne, up $0.89 per tonne. 58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao:...Read More
Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices continued to fall on Thursday May 28 and spot market activity was muted, with market participants lowering their estimates.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $112.23 per tonne, down $2.07 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $119.77 per tonne, down $1.93 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $90.39 per tonne, d...Read More
Swedish state-owned iron-ore producer LKAB has resumed production at its Kiruna mine after a "seismic event" last week, the company said on Wednesday May 27.All operations at the Kiruna mine were stopped on May 18 following an earthquake with a reported magnitude of 3.3 on the local magnitude (Richter) scale.The company managed to resume operations on May 23, it said, with production levels of abo...Read More
Prices for bulk cargoes of ferrous scrap exported from Japan rose over the week to Wednesday May 27 amid solid export demand and stronger domestic markets, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel scrap H2, export, fob main port Japan rose to ?23,500-24,000 ($218-222) per tonne on Wednesday May 27, up ?1,000 per tonne week on week.Small quantities of H2 were heard so...Read More
Idoru Trading's Nathan Fruchter knows how it feels to be ahead of the curve in the Asian steel scrap markets. The New York-based trader sold his first cargo to Bangladesh in the late 1980s and his first containers to Vietnam in the early 2000s - back in the infancy of both markets.Fruchter was also an early riser in his calls for a Taiwan ferrous scrap futures contract, having lobbied for such a d...Read More
Base metals prices were mixed during morning trading on Thursday May 28, with geopolitical tensions still weighing on the complex.The tensions did not appear to phase the LME copper price, which was the best performer in the complex and recovered just over 1% after closing 1.9% lower yesterday. The LME three-month copper price was up $59.50 from the May 27 close reach to $5,319 per tonne duri...Read More
Prices for cobalt salts in China, including cobalt sulfate and tetroxide, continued their upswing in the first half of this week, but the upward momentum has slowed after suppliers found it increasingly difficult to conclude deals at higher levels. Fastmarkets' assessment for cobalt sulfate 20.5% Co basis, exw China rose to 46,500-47,500 yuan ($6,493-6,632) per tonne on Wednesday May 27, up by 500...Read More
Cobalt is the battery raw material most likely to face supply disruption or inefficiency during Covid-19, according to a poll conducted during a Fastmarkets webinar last week.About 50% of respondents to the poll said cobalt would be most prone to disrupted supply or limited availability as a result of Covid-19; nickel and lithium each received 20% of respondents' votes, while the remaining 10% wen...Read More
China's domestic stainless steel prices were unchanged over the past week amid weak demand, but export prices fell due to a depreciation in the yuan. The Chinese currency was pegged at 7.1092 yuan per $1 on Wednesday May 27, compared with 7.0956 yuan to $1 a week earlier. The mixed performance by stainless steel prices comes amid an unclear trend in the price of nickel, a Southeast Asian buyer sai...Read More
Broader markets were generally weaker this morning, Friday May 29, while they wait for what United States President Donald Trump’s response will be to China’s plans to impose national security laws in Hong Kong. The base metals were mixed, however. On the Shanghai Futures Exchange only the lead contract was showing price falls, while most of the base metals traded on the London Metal Exc...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 10 points in pre-opening trade. Investors are waiting for a comment by President Trump on his policy on China.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for April Personal Income was a drop of 5.6% versus a decline of 2.0% in March. Actual was an increase of 10....Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday May 27 that are worth another look.The annual sitting of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference - widely known as the 'twin sessions' - in Beijing released a series of stimulus packages for the development of China's economy amid the Covid-19 pan...Read More
Three-month prices for base metals on the London Metal Exchange, except aluminium, closed in negative territory after trading on Wednesday May 27, with futures prices capped by risk-off sentiment created by reignited tensions between the United States and China.Tensions have flared between the two countries over China's proposals for new security laws in Hong Kong, pointing to a further deteriorat...Read More
Fastmarkets has corrected its daily assessments for the nickel arbitrage, in the base metals arbitrage SHFE versus LME calculation, which were published incorrectly on Tuesday May 26 due to an input error.The assessment for the nickel import arbitrage $/tonne was wrongly published as -$188.49 per tonne on May 26 and should have been $194.25 per tonne.The assessment for the ...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday May 27 that are worth another look.The annual sitting of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference - widely known as the 'twin sessions' - in Beijing released a series of stimulus packages for the development of China's economy amid the Covid-19 pan...Read More
The Antamina copper and zinc mine in Peru has resumed operations following its shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, shareholder Teck Resources said.The Vancouver, Canada-based miner, which has a 22.5% stake in Antamina, said that a reduced operating workforce had been mobilized with plans to start off at roughly 80% of full capacity after operations at Antamina were suspended last month to...Read More