Cold-rolled coil pushed up in Turkey's domestic market in the week to Thursday April 30, after a combination of Covid-19-related shutdowns, Ramadan and national holidays led to a shortage of hot rolled coil.CRC prices increased this week, with some Turkish mills offering CRC at $520-530 per tonne ex-works, up from $515-520 per tonne ex-works because of the HRC shortage.Overall demand for flat...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The first quarter continued the 2019 trend 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 compare...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday April 30 that are worth another look.Indian steel mills are unlikely to cut domestic hot rolled coil prices for sales in May, private mill sources in the country told Fastmarkets this week.ABN AMRO Bank has filed a claim against China's largest private copper smelter Dongying Fangyuan, according to a court document seen by Fastmar...Read More
Minor metal market participants do not expect the Yunnan provincial government incentives for commercial stockpiling of non-ferrous metals to immediately boost indium or germanium prices due to the potentially limited share allocated to minor metals and the weak demand outlook. The Yunnan provincial government called for leading enterprises to stockpile non-ferrous metals including copper, al...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange lost ground at the close of trading on Thursday April 30, closing at its lowest level in more than a week against thin turnover, while selling pressure pushed copper futures below nearby support levels.Nickel's outright price on the LME closed at $12,192 per tonne on Thursday afternoon, falling from an intraday high of $12,355 per tonne. Tu...Read More
A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday April 29. Please click...Read More
Prices in the seaborne iron ore market continued to gain ground on Thursday April 30, in line with higher futures curves for steel rebar, but trading activity in the seaborne and Chinese portside markets slowed down before China's Labor Day holiday on May 1.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $84.04 per tonne, up by $1.54 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $86.70 p...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 three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange lost ground at the close of trading on Thursday April 30, closing at its lowest level in more than a week against thin turnover, while selling pressure pushed copper futures below nearby support levels.Nickel's outright price on the LME closed at $12,192 per tonne on Thursday afternoon, falling from an intraday high of $12,355 per tonne. Tu...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Oversupply to persist in North America as demand slumpsPrices for welded oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and linepipe weakened further in April nearing historical lows, and there may be room for further pipe price retreat through the second quarter. Supply of ERW OCTG and line pipe is expected to continue to outpace demand f...Read More
Copper production will be reduced by 73,300 tonnes in Chile this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the country's minister of mining, Baldo Prokurica, said in a television interview on Thursday April 29."We are one of the less hit countries in comparison with other copper producers," Prokurica told Emol TV. "We have been hearing 25-30% production cuts [around the world], which hopefully will prese...Read More
Deliverable stocks of base metals in Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses all declined in the week ended Thursday April 30, with those for copper decreasing the most in percentage terms. SHFE copper stocks totaled 230,956 tonnes on April 30, declining by 28,081 tonnes or 10.8% from 259,037 tonnes on April 24 amid continued supply disruptions and a recovery in demand. This week, the...Read More
Key pricing data from the pricing session for Fastmarkets' alumina index, fob Australia on Thursday April 30. Fastmarkets' daily alumina index, fob Australia moved up to $241.37 per tonne on Thursday from $233.93 per tonne the previous day. The index is now at its highest since April 1 when it was at $241.52 per tonne. Key drivers: Three new deals concluded Thursday, with two destined f...Read More
A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday April 29. Please click...Read More
KAZ Minerals has delayed the start of production at its $1.2 billion Aktogay copper expansion project in Kazakhstan to late 2021, citing the impacts to its supply chain of the Covid-19 pandemic. The company has also cut its capital expenditure for the project this year to $300-350 million from $400 million previously forecast. KAZ Minerals had spent $663 million on the project by the end of 2019,...Read More
Domestic steel beam prices in the United States slipped in April on weaker demand and price reductions by mills, while import prices edged slightly higher in the face of collapsing demand due to foreign mills resisting price cuts. Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for steel beams 8 x 8-inch, fob mill US fell to $35.25 per hundredweight ($705 per short ton) on Thursday April 30, down by $1.25 (...Read More
A free-falling domestic flat-rolled steel market has sent more pressure to the foreign mills that are shipping their steel products to the docks in the United States, resulting in further declines on prices of most imported flat steel products.US hot-rolled coil prices crashed below $23 per hundredweight ($460 per short ton) this week despite an expected increase in ferrous scrap prices in May.&nb...Read More
Latin American steel group Ternium expects the Mexican automotive industry to "gradually" restart operations in May, chief executive officer M??ximo Vedoya said on Wednesday April 29.Automakers in Mexico have stopped operations since late March because of the spread of Covid-19. "The automotive industry's value chain in US and Mexico is highly integrated and it demands synchronized production in b...Read More
A summary of the financial results for Turkey's largest steelmaking group, Erdemir, for January-March 2020.In briefEarnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda)1,068,037,000 Turkish lira ($153.07 million*), down by 38.36% from 1,732,790,000 lira in January-March 2019.Q1 2020 production, salesCrude steel production2.232 million...Read More
Indian steel mills are unlikely to cut domestic hot rolled coil prices for sales in May, private mill sources in the country told Fastmarkets this week."We are likely to continue with current prices for the next month,," an official from a private sector mill said, "[because] any reduction in prices will [lead to] a big loss to our dealers and distributors."Fastmarkets' price assessment...Read More