Export billet prices from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) continued to weaken in the last week of May amid a lack of support from customers in Asia, particularly China.Chinese customers - who had been actively booking CIS-origin material - found the current import billet prices unprofitable considering the uncertainty in the finished long steel markets and the fluctuation of yuan agai...Read More
The LME three-month copper price was again trading above the psychological $5,300-per-tonne level on Thursday May 28, ending the day up 1.3% day on day at $5,322.50 per tonne, buoyed by the fresh cancelation of 19,000 tonnes earlier in the day.Copper futures extended their gains today with support from a considerable fresh cancelation of 19,975 tonnes from warehouses at Busan in Sou...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday May 28 that are worth another look.Japanese carmaker Nissan intends to close three plants at its Nissan Barcelona operations in Spain from December 2020, the company said on May 28. The units affected will be at Zona Franca, Montcada and Sant Andreu.The Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) has begun an anti-dumping investigation in...Read More
The LME three-month copper price was again trading above the psychological $5,300-per-tonne level on Thursday May 28, ending the day up 1.3% day on day at $5,322.50 per tonne, buoyed by the fresh cancelation of 19,000 tonnes earlier in the day.Copper futures extended their gains today with support from a considerable fresh cancelation of 19,975 tonnes from warehouses at Busan in Sou...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
The China alumina market split into different directions this week with higher deals pulling up the high end while weak demand from other aluminium producers dragged the low end down, sources said on Thursday May 28.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for alumina metallurgical grade, ddp China was 2,150-2,250 yuan ($300-314) per tonne on May 28, widening on both sides from 2,180-2,230 yuan per to...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.A couple of months into the global Covid-19 pandemic, the sell-off in steel markets appears to be abating.In parts of Asia, where the outbreak first occurred, steel prices - including those for coated steels - have rebounded since late April. The same is true of the US market as well. As we detail in our Americas analysis thi...Read More
Turkish domestic and export prices for steel billet have gone down slightly over the past week in line with the poor demand for finished steel, but imported billet prices have remained firm, sources said on Thursday May 28.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel billet, domestic, exw Turkey, was $365-372 per tonne on Thursday, down from the $370-375 per tonne of last week.Long steel produce...Read More
Bangladeshi steel mills are expected to return to the deep-sea market for steel scrap in bulk and containers in the coming weeks, market sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday May 28.Purchasing activity in Bangladesh has been extremely slow over the past three weeks, with demand decimated by the Ramadan period and the country's continuing Covid-19 lockdown.But signs of life are returning after Eid-a...Read More
Rio Tinto is considering a move into industrial-scale scandium oxide production after developing a pilot plant and seeing strong interest in the market, the company said this week. The potential timing, scale and investment in the industrial production of the rare earth metal - which is deemed a critical mineral in the United States, Canada, Australia and the European Union - are all bei...Read More
Global commodities miner-marketer Glencore will continue to take a disciplined approach to ensuring that it does not overproduce at a time of declining demand for some materials, the company's chief executive officer has said.Glencore prioritizes value over volume when it comes to production, Ivan Glasenberg said, pointing to its moves to reduce capacity in past cycles when supply has outweighed d...Read More
Japanese carmaker Nissan intends to close three plants at its Nissan Barcelona operations in Spain from December 2020, the company said on Thursday May 28. The units affected will be at Zona Franca, Montcada and Sant Andreu."The plan, presented after a lengthy study of options for Nissan's Barcelona operations, is now subject to consultation with workers' representatives," Nissan said.The company'...Read More
Aluminium producer Alcoa said it has started a consultation period for a collection dismissal process for staff, as well as the possible shutdown, of its San Cipri??n aluminium smelter in Spain."Alcoa met today with the representatives of the workers of San Cipri??n to inform them of the serious circumstances and of the unsustainable situation that the aluminium plant is going through due to inher...Read More
The China alumina market split into different directions this week with higher deals pulling up the high end while weak demand from other aluminium producers dragged the low end down, sources said on Thursday May 28.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for alumina metallurgical grade, ddp China was 2,150-2,250 yuan ($300-314) per tonne on May 28, widening on both sides from 2,180-2,230 yuan per to...Read More
Peruvian copper and gold mining projects could return to full swing in the third quarter 2020 after a national lockdown led to significant disruptions and a sharp drop in export earnings, a local organization said. Peru, the second-largest copper and zinc producer in the world, is estimated to suffer a loss of $4-5 billion in absolute terms due to the coronavirus pandemic-led lockdown, the Institu...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have moved above $25 per hundredweight ($500 per short ton) for the first time in more than seven weeks on expectations of higher scrap costs and cautious optimism about improving demand.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $25.21 per cwt ($504.20 per ton) on Thursday May 28, up by 1.6% from $24.82 per cwt on Wedn...Read More
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