Exporters of flat steel from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) were calm during the week ended Monday May 4 due to the large gap between offers and the workable level for buyers, Fastmarkets heard.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $350-365 per tonne on Monday, down by $5 per tonne from $355-370 per tonne a week befor...Read More
The three-month price of copper on the London Metal Exchange was higher at the close of trading on Monday May 4, pushing above nearby resistance levels despite the lowest daily trading volumes since April 6, while tin similarly staged a modest recovery in afternoon trading.Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $5,123 per tonne, recovering from an intraday low of $5,060 per tonne, while just...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in both Northern and Southern Europe dropped over the week ended Friday May 1 due to supply exceeding demand.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, was ?,?425.63 ($467.04) per tonne on May 1, down by ?,?17.50 per tonne week on week and down by ?,?46.87 per tonne since the start of April.Friday's index was calculated b...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday May 4 that are worth another look.Flat-rolled steel import prices were mostly stable week on week in South America on Friday May 1, after deals became scarce and negotiations for June-shipment cargoes finished with low interest from clients.The European Commission's (EC) antitrust authorities granted Europe's largest copper smelter...Read More
Christine Keener has been appointed Alcoa's vice president of operations for Europe and North America, in a new role combining the two operating locations, Fastmarkets understands. The consolidation, effective from Friday May 1, will streamline the management of operating Alcoa's assets and ensuring alignment among common markets, the company said. Keener replaces Jean Francois Cyr and...Read More
The three-month price of copper on the London Metal Exchange was higher at the close of trading on Monday May 4, pushing above nearby resistance levels despite the lowest daily trading volumes since April 6, while tin similarly staged a modest recovery in afternoon trading.Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $5,123 per tonne, recovering from an intraday low of $5,060 per tonne, while just...Read More
The seaborne coking coal market was muted on Monday May 4 in the absence of China, the only country that has been buying metallurgical coal spot cargoes since the global spread of Covid-19. Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $107.12 per tonne, unchanged Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $117.33 per tonne, unchanged Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $93.26 per tonne, unchanged...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices were flat on Monday May 4 from Friday April 1 due to a holiday in China, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $84.04 per tonne, unchanged.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $86.70 per tonne, unchanged. 58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $72.13 per tonne, unchanged. 65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cfr Qingdao: $101.70 p...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
Brazilian slab export prices narrowed upward in the week to Friday May 1, with producers trying to push offers higher amid lower global slab supply.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel slab export, fob main port Brazil, moved up by $10 on the low end to $330-345 per tonne, from $320-345 per tonne a week earlier.Offers from Brazil to Asia were reported within the range of $330-335 per tonne fob...Read More
The latest ferro-tungsten and ammonium paratungstate (APT) transactions, bids, offers and assessments in Europe, the US and China, with blue tungsten oxide (BTO) and yellow tungsten oxide (YTO) deals taken into consideration.To view the latest price assessments, please follow the links below:China- APT 88.5% WO3 min, fob main ports China, $/mtu WO3Europe- APT 88.5% WO3 min Europe, cif Rotterdam an...Read More
Copper stocks at Shanghai bonded warehouses fell in April amid an increase in import activity due to expectations of a cut to China's VAT rate in May and the opening of the arbitrage window between Shanghai and London.Fastmarkets assessed Shanghai bonded copper stocks at 291,000-301,000 tonnes on Thursday April 30, down by 12.7% from 334,000-344,000 tonnes on March 23. "The rumor of a VAT cut enti...Read More
The European Commission's (EC) antitrust authorities granted Europe's largest copper smelter Aurubis unconditional approval for the ?,?380 million ($417 million) acquisition of Belgian-Spanish recycler Metallo Group, the company said on Monday May 4.The transaction will formally close on May 29, with Metallo's consolidation into Aurubis taking place on June 1. The investment firm TowerBrook Capita...Read More
Christine Keener has been appointed Alcoa's vice president of operations for Europe and North America, in a new role combining the two operating locations, Fastmarkets understands. The consolidation, effective from Friday May 1, will streamline the management of operating Alcoa's assets and ensuring alignment among common markets, the company said. Keener replaces Jean Francois Cyr and...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was lower during morning trading on Monday May 4, with price action losing some 0.8% against low turnover, while the LME tin price also lost ground over the morning. Copper's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $5,065 per tonne, down from Friday's closing price of $5,110 per tonne, while turnover was low over the morning with jus...Read More
Mining and metalworking in Peru will gradually resume in May after a government order on Sunday May 3 targeted key industries for restarts."Exploitation, processing, storage, transportation and closure of mines in the strata of large-scale mining," will be part of an initial phase of business returning to some type of normality, the government said...Read More
Last week's weaker tone in the metals has flowed through into morning trading on Monday May 4, with the three-month base metals on the London Metal Exchange down by an average of 0.6%, led by a 0.9% fall in copper to $5,061 per tonne. With Japan and China closed trading volumes are thin.Market participants likely to focus on European purchasing manager's index (PMI) data and US factory orders. Bas...Read More
Steel mills in the United States appear to be holding firm on hot-rolled coil prices after a round of price increases last week, but it remains to be seen if buyers are picking up tons at those levels. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $24.83 per hundredweight ($496.60 per short ton) on Monday May 4, up by 4.9% from $23.67 per cwt on Friday May 1 and 7.8...Read More
Flat-rolled steel import prices were mostly stable week on week in South America on Friday May 1, after deals became scarce and negotiations for June-shipment cargoes finished with low interest from clients. Demand for flat steel has continued to drop in the region due to factory closures and weaker end-user consumption stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic. Sellers were already focusing on talks fo...Read More
Turkey exported 305,658 tonnes of flat steel products in March 2020, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).This volume was down by 46.34% year-on-year from the 569,364 tonnes exported in March 2019, the institute said.This meant that the country's total exports of flat steel products for the first three months of the year came to 1,185,141 tonnes.This volume was down by 30.85% from...Read More