The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: OversoldAluminium has been the hardest hit base metal over the past week, after relentless selling pressure took it to fresh multiyear lows while its LME peers generally consolidate or try to rebound. Aluminium is seeing far less in the way of supply restraint or disruptions than the other metals. But this market...Read More
Global markets are contracting in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the prices for flat steel products continue to retreat, with prices for coated steels down by a further 5% since late March in most of the markets that Fastmarkets tracks.The latest edition of Fastmarkets' Galvanized Steel and Tinplate Market Tracker, for April 2020, is now available to view.Further price falls are almost cer...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Despite these unprecedented times, US sheet prices moved in line with our expectations over the past month. While we maintain our view on the direction of pricing during 2020 and the length of the pricing downturn, as the Covid-19 crisis deepens we have increased the magnitude of the price declines through the second quarter...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.As oil price stumbles, outlook for welded markets weakensIn February, oil prices, already hit by the economic slowdown in Asia, turned lower on the failure of OPEC+ to reach an agreement on production cuts. This was enough to shake oil markets, but the collapse of global demand due to the pandemic has driven Brent below $30/...Read More
The new issue of the Seamless OCTG & Linepipe Market Tracker is now online at metalbulletinresearch.com.In this edition, Fastmarkets' research team delivers analysis of seamless OCTG and linepipe across international markets:Covid-19 underscores pipe outlookUnsurprisingly, the concern in the seamless pipe markets across the regions is the effect of the spread of Covid-19 on public health and econo...Read More
Ferro-alloys prices have generally retreated over the past month, with demand concerns gaining in prominence.The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Ferro-alloy pricing trends have generally diverged ove the past month, depending on the security of the supply-side position of the market. With most supply concerns fading with the resumption of industrial activity i...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:While the ferro-alloy industry's initial response to the Covid-19 outbreak was marked by rising prices primarily in response to supply-side concerns, focus has now shifted somewhat. As Chinese activity slowly returns to more normal levels, for alloys with a strong Chinese prod...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The first quarter continued the trend of 2019 - for China to actively import relatively cheap metallics and semi-finished steel - but can this be sustained? The answer to this question will come down to the price competitiveness of the products, we believe. One additional incentive to continue to import metallics this year -...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The recent decline in Chinese scrap prices - to their lowest in a couple of years - even as demand rises, suggests that Chinese scrap supply is increasingly sufficient. In terms of scrap demand, the question is more about price attractiveness. Mini-mills were reducing demand in February, largely because steel margins on scra...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.While downward pressure mounts on the steelmaking raw material markets, premiums for higher-grade iron ores have been sustained despite narrowing operating margins at Chinese steelmakers. Chinese mills are operating with shrinking margins since the end of last year but the premium for high-grade ores remains high. Historical...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This week Fastmarkets' analysts and price reporters shared their views and recent findings in a webinar revealing some distinct fundamental tensions for steel, refining alloys and, of course, steelmaking raw materials such as iron ore.While the outlook for chrome and manganese ores and alloys is balanced, as far as market pa...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices have fared relatively well over the past couple of months in the face of the threat from the Covid-19 pandemic.In grade-304 material, the most common grade of stainless steel, prices were down by about 5-7% since the turn of the year - not bad, when compared with the falls in prices of other assets so f...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Having first hit Asia during early 2020, the Covid-19 viral outbreak is now having an even bigger impact on European countries and the US. Widespread lockdown measures have been put in place on people and industry, and economic activity has slowed markedly.For now, stainless steel markets in Europe and the US are yet to show...Read More
Mexican scrap prices were stable or higher last week as low availability for some grades led to exceptional deals at increased prices, according to sources.Market participants reported that some scrap buyers had planned a 200 pesos ($8) price cut for last week, but by the end of the week such changes were not applied."In the whole month of April, buyers announced price cuts of around 1,000 pesos,...Read More
The Egyptian parliament has this week requested the government add a 10% import duty on finished steel products to protect local steel production, Egyptian market sources told Fastmarkets.The government has not yet approved or rejected the proposal but, if accepted, flat steel producers will benefit from the new duties, sources said.Egypt already imposes a definitive safeguard duty of 16% of the c...Read More
London Metal Exchange three-month base metals prices rose on Tuesday May 5, buoyed by increasing optimism for an increase in demand amid expectations that Covid-19 trade restrictions will continue to be eased in some parts of Europe while China's restart gathers momentum. China's market absence - due to the Labor Day public holiday from May 1 to May 5 - failed to dampen upward price momentum acros...Read More
The three-month tin price on the London Metal Exchange was higher across morning trading on Tuesday May 5, supported by the largest fresh cancelation in the tin market this year, while climbing exchange stocks and lackluster trade continues to pressure the aluminium price. The LME tin price was recently at $15,165 per tonne, up 0.5% from Monday's closing price of $15,085 per tonne. The price spike...Read More
Daily PDFs will be downloadable until Friday May 8. After that, because of the UK's early May bank holiday, the next daily PDF will be downloadable on Tuesday May 12. Read More
Broader markets are looking a bit brighter this morning, Tuesday May 5, with equity indices and base metals prices firmer while participants look forward to better demand once more plans are announced about lifting lockdown restrictions.The Dow Jones Industrial Average reversed from being down by 1.5% to close positively on Monday.US factory orders dropped by 10.3%, but this data was for March; by...Read More
Car manufacturer Groupe PSA - maker of the Peugeot, Citroen, Opel and Vauxhall brands - has announced a "progressive and secured restart of Groupe PSA manufacturing sites."The restarts would be guided by the resumption of commercial activities, the company said on Monday May 4.Its various sites across Europe closed from March 18 because of the disruption affecting its majo...Read More