Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were down across the board at the close of morning trading on Friday March 13, with the complex tracking pronounced weakness in broader markets overnight and this morning. Heightened fear among investors that the novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV) outbreak will wipe out economic growth led to further steep losses in the US stock market overnight, with...Read More
An overview of the Chinese minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
The price of stainless steel in the domestic European market was unchanged in the week ended Friday March 13 amid stable market conditions, but participants were bracing for a substantial downturn driven by the measures to contain the outbreak of 2019-nCoV coronavirus, sources have told Fastmarkets."So far... demand is unchanged, but a decrease might come," a Scandinavian distributor said. "Can we...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ended Friday March 13.China Spot domestic Chinese ferro-chrome prices have dropped after leading mill Tsingshan Group lowered its March tender price by 2.6%.The lower tender and...Read More
The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has postponed its conference scheduled to be held in Istanbul in May due to concerns over the spread of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus, the organisation said on Friday March 13.The three-day convention will now be held on October 12-14 in Istanbul. The orginal dates were May 18-20.The conference is a popular event...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday March 12 that are worth another look.Two more steel producers in Italy have stopped operations following the recent nationwide extension of the country's coronavirus-related quarantine area, and more stoppages were expected, sources told Fastmarkets on March 12.Ball Corporation is to acquire Tubex Industria E Comercio de Embalagen...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month price for nickel fell by more than 5% on Thursday March 12, a trading day that saw a 16,000-tonne rewarranting, with the price reaching a high of $12,495 per tonne then crashing to a low of $11,735 per tonne, before closing at $11,830 per tonne.Almost 13,700 nickel lots were traded over the day, which was marked by the rare rewarranting of more than 16,000 ton...Read More
The benchmark alumina price remained above $300 per tonne on Thursday March 12 but liquidity on a fob Australia basis remained low. Fastmarkets calculated the daily alumina index, fob Australia at $303.17 per tonne on Thursday, little changed from $304.63 per tonne the previous day. The index has been above $300 per tonne since February 27. Key drivers: Liquidity remains low but partici...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday March 12 that are worth another look.Two more steel producers in Italy have stopped operations following the recent nationwide extension of the country's coronavirus-related quarantine area, and more stoppages were expected, sources told Fastmarkets on March 12.Ball Corporation is to acquire Tubex Industria E Comercio de Embalagen...Read More
The benchmark alumina price remained above $300 per tonne on Thursday March 12 but liquidity on a fob Australia basis remained low. Fastmarkets calculated the daily alumina index, fob Australia at $303.17 per tonne on Thursday, little changed from $304.63 per tonne the previous day. The index has been above $300 per tonne since February 27. Key drivers: Liquidity remains low but partici...Read More
Aurubis' copper refining facility in Belgium has to operate at 50% of its full capacity due to an earlier incident, diverting intermediate-product copper anodes to the spot market, Fastmarkets has learned.Last November, a transport crane collapsed in the electrolysis section of Aurubis' copper tankhouse in Olen, Belgium, which transforms anodes into cathodes of 99.995% copper content. The Ole...Read More
Noranda Income Fund (NIF) is assessing whether capital investments at its facilities could help improve its production capacity and profitability in light of a decline in the quality of global zinc concentrates.NIF, which owns the Canadian Electrolytic Zinc (CEZ) facility in the province of Quebec, said the decline in concentrates quality has been in terms of the zinc grade and the level of impuri...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday March 12 that are worth another look.Two more steel producers in Italy have stopped operations following the recent nationwide extension of the country's coronavirus-related quarantine area, and more stoppages were expected, sources told Fastmarkets on March 12.Ball Corporation is to acquire Tubex Industria E Comercio de Embalagen...Read More
A substantial increase to air-freight costs from China into Europe and the US is weighing on negotiations for indium, germanium and gallium, which are usually shipped as air freight on commercial aircrafts, sources said."Since the coronavirus outbreak started, the cost of shipping by air has almost doubled for all air shipments," a Chinese germanium producer said.Air freight rates generally range...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices have gone down in the latest deal for a Baltic Sea cargo, with steel producers still trying to cover their urgent needs with short-sea deals instead, sources said on Thursday March 12.A steel mill in the country was heard booking a Baltic Sea cargo from Poland at the beginning of the week at $273-273.50 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20). The cargo breakdown was...Read More
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJIA) closed down by 5.9% on Wednesday, and in the pre-market this morning, Thursday March 12, the DJIA futures are down by around 4.4% - such is the continued fear in the market. Base metals on the London Metal Exchange and on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were down across the board by an average of 1% and 1.7% respectively, as of 7:50am London time. A...Read More
The United Kingdom government revealed plans to invest over ?1 billion ($1.3 billion) on green transport, including ?500 million for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure over the next five years, in its 2020 budget announcement on Wednesday March 11.During the budget presentation, UK chancellor Rishi Sunak committed to make it cheaper to buy low emission vehicles and cutting taxes on cl...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday March 12 that are worth another look.Two more steel producers in Italy have stopped operations following the recent nationwide extension of the country's coronavirus-related quarantine area, and more stoppages were expected, sources told Fastmarkets on March 12.Ball Corporation is to acquire Tubex Industria E Comercio de Embalagen...Read More
The trend in the European market for hot-rolled coil remained blurry due to the lockdown in Italy intended to restrict the spread of coronavirus, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday March 12.The consequences of the outbreak of 2019-nCoV coronavirus that led to the lockdown have also resulted in stoppages at some long steel producers in the country.But Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil inde...Read More
Chinese hot-rolled coil exporters expressed growing concern over thin trading caused by the global spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on Thursday March 12, despite improved control of the outbreak within China.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,500-3,520 yuan ($503-506) per tonne, widening downward by 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,330-3,340 yuan per tonne, widen...Read More