Base metals prices were up across the board this morning, Tuesday March 10, on expectations that central banks and governments will step in to stop the rout. This follows Monday's slump across a broad set of assets that saw the base metals on the London Metal Exchange down by an average of 4.3% at their lows, oil futures slump by more than 35%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJIA) off by...Read More
Beijing has taken measures to resuscitate its sluggish logistics sector by cutting port fees in a bid to encourage businesses to increase their import and export activities.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced measures on March 3 during a State Council meeting to reduce several port fees. Port construction duties have been suspended until June 30. The port construction duty is a levy on businesses...Read More
Base metals were mixed this morning, Wednesday March 11, while the pre-market Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJIA) was off by 700 points, this after a 1,167-point rise on Tuesday.Markets were disappointed that US President Donald Trump did not announce concrete stimulus/support measures on Tuesday, but measures are still expected in the United States sometime soon and the Wednesday’s ann...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 85 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures responded to disappointment that the U.S. Administration did not offer a fiscal package after the close yesterday as had been expected. U.S. equity index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the February Consumer Price Index at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was u...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday March 9 that are worth another look.Market sources have been puzzled by the gradual upward trend in China's steel prices after the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) broke out in a big way after the Lunar New Year holiday.Soci?(C)t?(C) le Nickel (SLN) resumed operations and ore shipments at its Thio mine in New Caledonia on March 9, a sp...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange, with the exception of aluminium, closed down in the afternoon session on Monday March 9 while problems arising from the 2019-CoV coronavirus continued to weigh on global economies and demand for commodities."There was no shortage of negative developments over the weekend while recently-affected economies took drastic measures to limit th...Read More
If global financial markets had been operating under a pervading sense of uncertainty due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), they now appear to be veering on panic.Oil prices have suffered their biggest one-day collapse since the 1991 Gulf War following Saudi Arabia's declaration of a price war on Russia through a shock move to hike oil production. S&P Dow Jones Indices was forced...Read More
Treatment charges (TCs) for spot lead concentrates have continued to rise, with smelters cherry-picking deals with terms as high as $200 per tonne.Fastmarkets assessed the lead spot concentrate TC, high silver, cif China, at $180-200 per tonne on Friday February 28, up $30 from $150-170 per tonne the previous month. The corresponding assessment for lead spot concentrate TC, low silver, cif China,...Read More
Chinese portside prices of both high- and low-grade manganese ore fell for the fourth straight week on Friday March 6, but the pace of the downtrend slowed after some traders resisted slashing offer prices further. Fastmarkets' manganese ore port index, base 37% Mn, range 35-39%, fot Tianjin, China was 33.70 yuan ($4.86) per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) (equivalent to $4.10 per dmtu, excludin...Read More
Norsk Hydro has closed one of the four production lines at its Albras aluminium smelter joint venture in Brazil after a fire in an electrical transformer on Friday March 6.The smelter, owned 51% by Norsk Hydro and 49% by Nippon Amazon Aluminium Co, has an annual production capacity of 460,000 tonnes. The fire is a further blow to the smelter,...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday March 9 that are worth another look.Market sources have been puzzled by the gradual upward trend in China's steel prices after the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) broke out in a big way after the Lunar New Year holiday.Soci?(C)t?(C) le Nickel (SLN) resumed operations and ore shipments at its Thio mine in New Caledonia on March 9, a sp...Read More
Key data from the March 9 pricing session in LondonKey driversThe price for standard-grade cobalt increases on the top end of the range; sellers hold firm with offers and are in little rush to drop them for low-volume inquiries. The alloy-grade price holds firm, with several sellers citing market tightness on good demand being reported in the aerospace, medical implant and other downstream ma...Read More
Turkish steel mills remained out of the deep-sea scrap markets at the start of the week, but expect to resume purchases soon, market sources said on Monday March 9.There have been no new bookings so far in March. The last cargo was sold on February 24, which put the price of Baltic Sea- and United States-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) at around $280 per tonne cfr.Suppliers, especially those in the US, hel...Read More
Auto bundle scrap prices in the Turkish domestic market dropped over the past week on the strength on the local currency against the US dollar, while ship scrap prices were stable, sources said on Monday March 9.The Turkish lira has regained some ground against the US dollar, following the news that Turkey and Russia had agreed a ceasefire in Idlib, Syria, which took effect on Thursday March 5, ac...Read More
The Chinese government has announced a fourth quota for copper scrap imports, which importers must apply for to bring scrap material into China.A total of 3,520 tonnes of copper scrap will be allowed to enter into China under the latest quota, according to a release on Saturday March 7 from the China Solid Waste & Chemicals Management Bureau, which is part of the Ministry of Ecology and Environmen...Read More
If global financial markets had been operating under a pervading sense of uncertainty due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), they now appear to be veering on panic.Oil prices have suffered their biggest one-day collapse since the 1991 Gulf War following Saudi Arabia's declaration of a price war on Russia through a shock move to hike oil production. S&P Dow Jones Indices was forced...Read More
Key data from the March 9 pricing session in LondonKey driversThe price for standard-grade cobalt increases on the top end of the range; sellers hold firm with offers and are in little rush to drop them for low-volume inquiries. The alloy-grade price holds firm, with several sellers citing market tightness on good demand being reported in the aerospace, medical implant and other downstream ma...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday March 9 that are worth another look.Market sources have been puzzled by the gradual upward trend in China's steel prices after the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) broke out in a big way after the Lunar New Year holiday.Soci?(C)t?(C) le Nickel (SLN) resumed operations and ore shipments at its Thio mine in New Caledonia on March 9, a sp...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have gone unchanged day on day while buyers remained watchful of the market, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday March 9.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, was ?,?484.62 ($547.13) per tonne on Monday, down by ?,?0.02 per tonne from ?,?484.64 per tonne on March 6.The index was calculated based on...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have been fairly stable over the past week, with minor fluctuations indicating buyers' uncertainty about the future direction of price movements.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, was ?,?484.64 ($547.15) per tonne on Friday March 6. This was down by ?,?0.26 per tonne week on week from ?,?484.90...Read More