The Turkish markets for steel billet have crashed over the past week, following the sharp decline in imported scrap prices amid the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, sources said on Thursday March 26.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel billet import, cfr main port Turkey, was $357-360 per tonne on Thursday, down from the $390-400 per tonne of last week.After the imported scrap prices cra...Read More
The ferro-tungsten market in Europe fell by 9.9% to a two-month low in the first half of this week, with the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to reduce demand for tungsten products.Fastmarkets' assessment of the price for ferro-tungsten, basis 75% W, in-whs dup Rotterdam, dropped to $31.50-32.50 per kg on Wednesday March 25, down from the previous week's assessment at $35-36 per kg. The...Read More
ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AMNS India) is the latest steelmaker in the country to confirm it is reducing production rates due to the Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown in the country."AMNS operations are running at very low capacity, with minimum staff inside its facilities," a company spokesperson told Fastmarkets on Thursday March 26 without revealing details on which units had been&...Read More
Member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (Cisa) increased their steel and hot-metal output rates from the preceding nine days in mid-March but mills' inventory of finished steel dropped sharply, according to data released late on Wednesday March 25.March 11-20 outputCrude steel: 1.84 million tonnes per day, up by 1.55%Finished steel: 1.76 million tpd, up by...Read More
Turkish carmakers Oyak Renault, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Mercedes-Benz T? 1/4 rk and Ford Otosan have all announced production stops this month because of concerns about the spread of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)."We [will] gradually and temporarily suspend most of our operations as of March 26, 2020, in Oyak Renault automotive factories. [A] production resumption date will be shared again acc...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday March 26 that are worth another look.China's electric-arc furnace mills have gradually raised production rates in the past three weeks following stronger demand for steel products.A major aluminium producer has concluded multiple deals with Japanese consumers for April-June delivery to main Japanese ports (MJP) at a premium on a c...Read More
The Chinese domestic portside manganese ore market has fallen into stasis this week with many ore traders refraining from making offers following the news that all miners in South Africa were required to shut down operations from Thursday March 26.The shutdown order was part of the country's efforts to limit the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the region.South Africa will enter a 21-day nationw...Read More
The market for pig iron exports from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was much reduced in the week to Thursday March 26, sources told Fastmarkets, despite a resumption of sales to China."Industrial activity has rebounded rapidly there and pig iron demand has been boosted," one exporter from the CIS said. "The price [in dollars] has reduced, but the devaluation of the Russian rouble has...Read More
The ferro-tungsten market in Europe fell by 9.9% to a two-month low in the first half of this week, with the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to reduce demand for tungsten products.Fastmarkets' assessment of the price for ferro-tungsten, basis 75% W, in-whs dup Rotterdam, dropped to $31.50-32.50 per kg on Wednesday March 25, down from the previous week's assessment at $35-36 per kg. The...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday March 26 that are worth another look.China's electric-arc furnace mills have gradually raised production rates in the past three weeks following stronger demand for steel products.A major aluminium producer has concluded multiple deals with Japanese consumers for April-June delivery to main Japanese ports (MJP) at a premium on a c...Read More
Metals, mining and alloy producers have been scenario-planning in response to the novel coronavirus. The South African government appears to have just removed all but one option.President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the country's mineral resources industry to shut underground mines and furnaces from Thursday March 26, unless they can be operated remotely. The shutdown will last for three weeks an...Read More
The 2019-nCoV pandemic is definitely a black swan event, one which nobody saw coming. Global business sentiment has taken a massive hit, with major industries grinding to a halt on travel bans, quarantine orders and border controls. Major airlines such as Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways have grounded their fleets, stock markets have collapsed with exchanges closing and tourism is taking a pun...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has closed its open outcry trading floor and is using its electronic trading platform for price discovery as a precautionary measure amid the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pandemic.The only other time the 143-year-old metals exchange temporarily closed was during World War II, when - in the absence of electronic trade - the venue was forced to shut entirely. The move to c...Read More
China's electric-arc furnace (EAF) mills have gradually raised their production rates in the past three weeks following stronger demand for steel products.But this higher output is unlikely to lower billet imports into the country, according to market sources. They expect this trade flow to persist as long as the arbitrage window stays open.Production rates for EAFs - which largely produce long st...Read More
The three-month price of lead on the London Metal Exchange was the standout performer at the close of trading on Thursday March 26, climbing by just over 3% to close at its highest level since March 16, while copper futures found support above the $4,800 per tonne threshold.Lead's underlying price on the LME closed at $1,685 per tonne, an increase of more than 3% from its intraday low of $1,635.50...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has developed procedures to manage the temporary unavailability of one of its approved warehouses or delivery points that might stem from the Covid-19 outbreak.These measures, which are in line with the exchange's Warehouse Agreement, address potential issues around delivery obligations, warranting and rent payments, it said. "These procedures have been discussed wit...Read More
The seaborne iron ore market cooled down on Thursday March 26 after gaining ground for two consecutive days, with the lower prices in line with a softer futures curve for rebar. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $86.77 per tonne, down $0.57 per tonne 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $87.64 per tonne, down $1.18 per tone58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao:&...Read More
The new issue of Aluminium Market Tracker is now online at metalbulletinresearch.com.In this edition, Fastmarkets' research team delivers key insights and forecasts into aluminium markets around the world.Aluminium price down 2.3% week-on-week amid stock market sell-offGlobal markets remain rattled by the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV) across Europe and the United States. Panic-sellin...Read More
Copper has attempted to rebound since early September following a marked sell-off in the summer months where macro and fundamental forces have been prevalent.On the macro front, copper has benefited from a slight easing in US-China trade tensions and more monetary policy easing across the globe - including China, where copper consumption is the most exposed - that has shored up investor sentiment....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