Northern China's steel hub of Tangshan will cut 1.6 million tonnes of hot metal production at 20 steel mills in March to improve air quality, market sources in the country told Fastmarkets on Monday March 9.This round of production cuts will affect around 56 blast furnaces in the city, according to Fastmarkets' estimation, which will ease the pressure of high inventories at steel mills and in the...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday March 10 that are worth another look.The recent extension of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus quarantine area to all of Italy has resulted in trading activity falling to nearly zero and has caused some minor disruptions to deliveries, sources told Fastmarkets on March 10.A falling aluminium price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange below pro...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday March 10.Click on the above image to view this...Read More
The London Metal Exchange may switch from open outcry to electronic price discovery if the 2019-nCoV coronavirus makes it impossible for ring-trading to continue safely, it has said.At the moment, the ring is continuing to operate from London, and the exchange has adopted various precautionary measures intended to halt the spread of the virus, including the creation of a split-team arrangement for...Read More
Ferrous scrap prices in Mexico were unchanged in the week ended March 6, with rising inventories held by some steelmakers and uncertainty in the United States market.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment of the steel scrap No1 heavy melt, consumer buying price, delivered mill Monterrey, remained at 5,050 pesos ($238) per tonne on Tuesday March 10, while the steel scrap No1 busheling, consumer buying pric...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday March 10 that are worth another look.The recent extension of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus quarantine area to all of Italy has resulted in trading activity falling to nearly zero and has caused some minor disruptions to deliveries, sources told Fastmarkets on March 10.A falling aluminium price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange below pro...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
The ambitious expansion of copper and zinc smelters in China is boosting not only the production of metal but output of the sulfuric acid by-product, and this is now in oversupply due to the knock-on effects of the outbreak of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus."It is a rainy night and smelters have leaky roofs," Du Fei and Lily Li said in a jointly published report. Both are analysts with Jinrui Futures,...Read More
The London Metal Exchange may switch from open outcry to electronic price discovery if the 2019-nCoV coronavirus makes it impossible for ring-trading to continue safely, it has said.At the moment, the ring is continuing to operate from London, and the exchange has adopted various precautionary measures intended to halt the spread of the virus, including the creation of a split-team arrangement for...Read More
Three-month prices of base metals trading on the London Metal Exchange rebounded at the close on Tuesday March 10 due to suggestions that the worst of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China may be over. "Although the start of the new trading week was all out bearish, bargain-hunting activity prevails today and LME base metals look to be paring losses," Fastmarkets research analyst Andy Farida...Read More
A falling aluminium price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange below production costs has weakened sentiment for China's alumina market, sources told Fastmarkets this week. Market participants had been bullish about the Chinese alumina price due to reduced production during the height of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in the country early this year. Smelters had removed almost 6 milli...Read More
Prices for flat steel in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow started to move up this week after the rouble lost value against the US dollar, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday, March 10. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled sheet, domestic, cpt Moscow, Russia, was 42,000-43,000 roubles per tonne on March 10, including 20% VAT, up from 41,000-42,000 roubles per ton...Read More
Sherritt International Corp is to exit the Ambatovy joint venture in Madagascar, but its decision will not affect nickel or cobalt production at the mine, the Canadian company confirmed to Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 10. The Canadian miner announced on February 26 that it would not fund its 12% stake in the Ambatovy JV, with Japan's Sumitomo Corp and South Korea's Korea Resources Corp (Kores...Read More
Three-month prices of base metals trading on the London Metal Exchange rebounded at the close on Tuesday March 10 due to suggestions that the worst of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China may be over. "Although the start of the new trading week was all out bearish, bargain-hunting activity prevails today and LME base metals look to be paring losses," Fastmarkets research analyst Andy Farida...Read More
A falling aluminium price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange below production costs has weakened sentiment for China's alumina market, sources told Fastmarkets this week. Market participants had been bullish about the Chinese alumina price due to reduced production during the height of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in the country early this year. Smelters had removed almost 6 milli...Read More
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has signed a new contract with Vietnamese state-owned company Vinacomin for the supply of alumina to the United Arab Emirates until 2023. The agreement means EGA will continue to buy up to 300,000 tonnes per year of alumina from Vinacomin. This deal extends an agreement that EGA and Vinacomin signed in late 2017 which was due to expire at the end of this year. https...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange improved during morning trading on Tuesday March 10, recouping losses made in Monday's decline in a 3% rally, while the rest of the complex followed higher. Nickel's outright price on the LME was recently at $12,920 per tonne, climbing from a morning low of $12,570 per tonne.Turnover in nickel was high this morning, with more than 5,000 lot...Read More
Prices for hot-rolled coil in the United States have rebounded following a steep drop at the beginning of the week, but prices remain closer to the $29-per-hundredweight ($580-per-short-ton) level than the $30-per-cwt level that characterized the spot market just a week ago.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US, was calculated at $28.89 per hundredweight ($577.80 per ton) on...Read More
The recent extension of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus quarantine area to all of Italy has resulted in trading activity falling to nearly zero and has caused some minor disruptions to deliveries, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 10.But production has not been affected by the tougher measures, market participants said.On March 9, Italian authorities ordered a lockdown of whole country in an att...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have dropped day on day following a decline in import offers and the risks related to the 2019-nCoV coronavirus outbreak in Italy, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 10.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, was ?,?481.07 ($549.54) per tonne on Tuesday, down by ?,?3.55 per tonne day on day fr...Read More