If any member was going to leave the London Metal Exchange ring trading floor, the exchange was probably hoping it wouldn't be Triland Metals Ltd.The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi, is one of the exchange's longest serving Category 1 members, having joined in 1972 after being founded in the prior year. Having a unit of Japan's largest trading company as a ri...Read More
Trafigura Pte is developing a program that will provide its customers with data on the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in its nickel and cobalt supply chains, the physical trading company said.The service will have a particular focus on the company's electric vehicle (EV) customers and will be provided by Circulor, a blockchain-based supply chain traceability and CO2 emissions tracking services pro...Read More
The Brazilian automotive association, Anfavea, has cut its forecast for production and sales in 2021, due to a shortage of semiconductors and logistics issues.Vehicle production is now expected to reach between 2.13-2.22 million units this year, an increase of 6-10% from the 2.01 million units produced in 2020, the association said on Wednesday October 6.The new forecast is 10-13% lower than the a...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday October 7 that are worth another look.Steel producer Feralpi Group is to invest ?,?100 million ($115 million) in renewable power at its Italian sites, it announced on Thursday October 7.Vale has resumed activities at its On??a...Read More
Local reinforcing bar and imported billet prices in Egypt were stable in the week to Thursday October 7, while demand from the private sector was still weak, sources told Fastmarkets."Government funded projects continue, but private sector demand remains slow," one trader told Fastmarkets.Some market participants expect prices to decrease due to weak demand, except for government projects, while s...Read More
The Brazilian automotive association, Anfavea, has cut its forecast for production and sales in 2021, due to a shortage of semiconductors and logistics issues.Vehicle production is now expected to reach between 2.13-2.22 million units this year, an increase of 6-10% from the 2.01 million units produced in 2020, the association said on Wednesday October 6.The new forecast is 10-13% lower than the a...Read More
Brazil-based multi-metal producer Nexa Resources has resumed activity at its San Gerardo zinc-lead open-pit mine in central Peru after a week-long stoppage caused by community blockades, the company said on Wednesday October 6.In a filing to the Peruvian securities and exchange commission, SMV, Nexa said operations began to reopen early in the week and by Wednesday had returned to full capacity.Ro...Read More
Diversified miner BHP and United States copper cable and wire manufacturer Southwire have completed their first carbon-neutral copper transaction involving delivery from BHP's mines in Chile to Southwire's processing activities in the US state of Georgia, the miner said.The pilot involved tracing BHP copper cathode and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through Southwire's rod production op...Read More
Vale has resumed activities at its On??a Puma nickel unit in Brazil after a legal injunction re-established the facility's operating license, the company said in a filing with securities and exchange commission CVM on Thursday October 7.On??a Puma, located in Brazil's northern Par?? state, had been stopped on Monday October 4 following the suspension of its operating permit by state environme...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday October 7 that are worth another look.Steel producer Feralpi Group is to invest ?,?100 million ($115 million) in renewable power at its Italian sites, it announced on Thursday October 7.Vale has resumed activities at its On??a...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:Bulk and noble alloys both moved largely in line with our price forecasts globally over the past month, though several markets surprised to the upside, exceeding our forecast gains. Stronger-than-forecast pricing momentum was primarily triggered by supply shortages in numerous...Read More
Fastmarkets analysts Andrew Cole and Andy Farida and reporter Thorsten Schier size up the nickel market ahead of LME Week, which begins Monday October 11.Nickel prices have been capped by the $20,000-per-tonne level this year, failing to sustain a meaningful break higher despite attempts in February and again repeatedly during July-September. The London Metal Exchange three-month price peaked at $...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Recent weeks have brought two key developments with regard to trade policy on stainless steel products that will be to the detriment of consumers.In China, the country's stainless steelmakers no longer enjoy a 13% export rebate as of May 1, reducing greatly their incentive to export and instead leading them to focus on supply...Read More
The collapse of the iron ore market and market turbulence over Chinese property developer Evergrande Group are adding to the economic woes caused by the Delta variant of Covid-19 for much of this year.It is hard to find bright sparks in the months ahead for the ferrous supply chain, which has been buffeted repeatedly in a short span of few months, starting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's comment...Read More
Stainless steel prices continue to register new highs around the end of the first half of 2021 and steelmakers continue to enjoy outsized margins.They have responded in recent months by increasing their output, which has now pushed above pre-pandemic levels and will eventually restore balance to the market.For now, though, supply gaps are still being filled and buyers find themselves competing aga...Read More
Zinc producers in China's southwestern province of Yunnan should be able to fully resume their operations by mid-June, sources said.Yunnan will remove its power restrictions by the end of June that have stunted local zinc output, the provincial energy bureau said.A few zinc smelters in Yunnan have already resumed production, however, sources that spoke to Fastmarkets said.Production capa...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Bulk ferro-alloy prices have shown impressive gains again this month, with ferro-silicon, silicon metal and manganese alloy prices all making significant increases. Noble alloy markets also enjoyed upward momentum, with both vanadium and molybdenum prices rising sharply.Recovering demand from steelmakers globally, together w...Read More
The latest forecasts and analysis of the ferrous scrap and iron metallics market from the Fastmarkets research team are ready to be viewed.Stifled automotive output this year, driven by a supply shortage of semiconductor chips used in vehicles, has tightened prime scrap availability and widened the spreads between this grade of steelmaking raw material and obsolete scrap.While wide prime-over-obso...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were up across the board on the morning of Thursday October 7, which was in line with the stronger tone in Asia-Pacific equities and the pullback in oil prices.Brent crude oil price pulls back to $81 per barrel from Wednesday's high at $83.48 per barrel.Russia offers to increase natural gas supply to Europe.Base metalsAll of the LME base metals showe...Read More
Turkish steel producers have continued booking deep-sea scrap cargoes for November shipment on Thursday October 7, aided by improving demand for billet and finished long steel products, market participants told Fastmarkets.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a European cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (75:25) at $440 per tonne, shredded at $455 and bonus at $460 per tonne cfr. And a steel produc...Read More