Hot-rolled coil pricing in the United States rose slightly on Monday March 16, with mills maintaining their asking prices while pointing out that upcoming outages will reduce supply.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $28.73 per hundredweight ($574.60 per short ton) on Monday, up by 1.7% from $28.25 per cwt on Friday and a 0.5% increase from $28.58 pe...Read More
Export prices for pig iron from the south of Brazil were stable in new sales heard during the week that ended on Friday March 13.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, was $320-325 per tonne on Friday, unchanged week on week.One sale was reported at $324-325 per tonne fob for May shipment to a trader in the United States market.But the majority of marke...Read More
Cadence Minerals is poised to become a 20% shareholder in the Amap?? iron ore project in Brazil once the mine's current owner reaches a settlement agreement with its secured bank creditors. The London-based company and its joint-venture partners, Indo Sino Pte Ltd, have been in their own negotiations with the creditors and have offered a settlement involving a discount on the amounts owed by curre...Read More
Ferrous scrap prices across the global markets moved downward during the working week to Friday March 13 on lower confidence and reduced trading because of the continuing container shortage.Market stasis ends with lower prices in TurkeyUS export market expecting lower pricesPrices slip in Taiwan, VietnamIndian markets falter on poor conditions.TurkeyPurchases of cargoes from the deep sea market fi...Read More
Turkish steel producers were absent from the deep-sea scrap markets at the start of the week amid the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in the country, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday March 16.The mills in Turkey resumed their deep-sea bookings at lower prices last week after a long period of silence.The most recent booking from the Baltic Sea region at the end of last week put the HMS 1&2...Read More
Turkish domestic auto bundle scrap prices continued to soften over the past week in line with the falling scrap import values, sources said on Monday March 16.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, was $272.97 per tonne on Friday March 13, compared with $279.45 per tonne on March 6.In a response to the downturn in the imported scrap values, some steel...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices dropped marginally on Monday March 16, with market participants taking a wait-and-see approach amid macro-economic concerns over the global spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $90.88 per tonne, down $0.83 per tonne. 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $92.14 per tonne, down $1.38 per tonne 58...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices were steady on Monday March 16 despite a flurry of trades, with Australia's Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT) removing the force majeure declaration after the weather improved over the weekend.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $163.05 per tonne, up $0.92 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $166.77 per tonne, up $0.09 per tonneHard coki...Read More
UK suppliers of steel scrap to domestic consumers have increased their prices for the latest monthly settlements to be delivered in March, marking a choppy period for the market so far this year, a trend that looks set to continue in April, market sources told Fastmarkets on Friday March 13.March contracts were up by ?10 ($12) per tonne after dropping by ?25 per tonne in February, which partiall...Read More
China faces an oversupply of alumina this year because of reduced demand for aluminium, according to a government report released last week.A restriction on the expansion of alumina capacity could offer a solution to the situation, according to an aluminium operations summary report released by the raw materials department of China's Ministry of Industry & Information Technology (MIIT)."The outloo...Read More
The London Metal Exchange confirmed in a written statement on Monday that a ring-dealing member employee has contracted the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), further jeopardizing trading activity at its open-outcry trading venue."The LME was informed on Sunday that one member of staff of an LME Ring-dealing member has been diagnosed with Covid-19. A number of precautionary measures have been taken, i...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was lower during morning trading on Monday March 16, slipping below the $5,400-per-tonne resistance level despite a sizable fresh cancelation, while the red metal's price continues to weaken with broad risk-aversion capping investment in commodity markets.Copper's underlying price on the LME was recently seen at $5,290 per tonne, its lowest...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices gained on Monday March 16 in thin trading, boosted by a weekend buying spree following the news of the reserve ratio cut.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,510-3,530 yuan ($501-504) per tonne, up 10-20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,380 yuan per tonne, up 50-60 yuan per tonneMills in the north of China raised ex-works offers for flat steel inclu...Read More
The rout in global markets continued in early trading today, Monday March 16, with Asian equity indices down significantly and the pre-market Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJIA) futures already down by its 5% limit.Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange are down across the board by an average of 1.2%, in high volume of 11,892 lots, as at 6.43am London time. Bank of Japan...Read More
Key data from the Friday March 16 pricing session in London. Key drivers: Cobalt prices had increased following the coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, but now prices are declining amid slow trade and limited inquiries, with sellers cutting offers and increasingly...Read More
The European antimony price edged down for both grades on Friday March 13, ending the uptrend that started on January 29 on logistic constraints amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, Fastmarkets heard.If the limited availability of material from China supported prices in January and February, the price driver has shifted to the decrease in demand in Europe, with the continent now labelled the...Read More
The domestic Chinese antimony price fell sharply in the week ended Friday March 13 after some suppliers cut their offer prices significantly to secure business and generate cash in a market where buying interest is scant, market participants said. Fastmarkets' assessment of antimony, MMTA standard grade II, ddp China slid for the second consecutive week to 38,000-39,500 yuan ($5,421-5,635) per ton...Read More
Lundin Mining has put its expansion of the Neves-Corvo zinc and lead mine in Portugal on hold, intending to limit the spread of the Covid 19 virus in the local area."As the workforce for the project includes many contract employees who travel from other regions of Portugal and internationally, the risk is that the virus could be brought to the Alentejo region by people travelling to...Read More
A sharp decline in market sentiment, linked to the spread of the coronavirus (2019-nCoV), has halted activity and reduced prices in the Japanese construction steel sector, steelmaker Tokyo Steel said.The major electric-arc furnace (EAF) producer announced on Monday March 16 it will slash its April prices for H and I-beam by ?7,000-11,000 ($65-102) per tonne month on month and drop its steel plate...Read More
Italian secondary aluminium producer Raffmetal will cease production from March 16-22 amid ongoing concerns from the spread of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in the country, a source close to the matter told Fastmarkets on March 13.At the time of publication the company, Europe's largest secondary aluminium producer, had not responded to Fastmarkets' request for comment.However, it is understood th...Read More