Samancor Chrome has provisionally decided to restructure its mining and smelting operations in a move that will reduce staff and production levels due to the deteriorating chrome markets and rising power costs, Fastmarkets has learned. South Africa's largest ferro-chrome producer wrote to employees and unions on Friday January 17, in letters seen by Fastmarkets, warning that it had made the provis...Read More
UG2 chrome ore prices continued to rise in the week to Friday January 17 after sellers reported higher bids due to a stronger yuan and market sources are eyeing stronger demand after the Chinese New Year holiday (January 24-30). Fastmarkets' chrome ore South Africa UG2 concentrates index basis 42%, cif China edged up by $1 or 0.7% to $136 per tonne on Friday from $135 per tonne in the previous wee...Read More
Fastmarkets will host a free web seminar on Wednesday February 26 at 10am London time, to discuss the current trends for alumina and the evolution of its pricing.Benchmark alumina prices have been static below $280 per tonne for the past month, with Chinese demand underpinning the market. Register here to join the webinar. Date Wednesday February 26, 2020Time 10am London timeJoin our market expert...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia and Europe in the week to Friday January 17.ChinaKey drivers The price of antimony, MMTA standard grade II, ddp China, gained some upward momentum in the latest assessment period, ending Wednesday January 15, after many suppliers raised their offer prices amid a growing number of inquiries.Several antimony consumers, who had maintained low inventorie...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the rest of the world for the week ended January 17.ChinaKey drivers Export price for silicon increased by 1.3% week on week amid higher offer prices in the market.Overseas inquiries picked up. Exporters, on average, raised their prices by $20-30 per tonne given the appreciation of the yuan and tight spot supply. There were no deals...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea scrap import markets remained quiet at the beginning of the week, following the sharp price decline that was seen late last week, sources said on Monday January 20.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a US cargo of 35,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) at $295 per tonne cfr late on January 15.This would have put the HMS 1&2 (80:20) price at $288 per tonne, compared with a previou...Read More
Ferrous scrap prices in the global markets continued to weaken during the week ended Friday January 17, following the sharp decline in the Turkish market.Turkish prices decline sharply with fresh US tradeUnited States East Coast prices down; West Coast to followPrices in Taiwan and Vietnam fall steadily on soft demandInternational downturn drags down Indian pricesTurkeyPrices for ferrous scrap imp...Read More
The Chinese government published the long-awaited non-ferrous scrap metal renaming criterion on its website late on Friday January 17. This is the latest policy adopted by the world's biggest scrap metal importer. Copper scrap, of copper content ranging 94-99.9% and meeting certain impurities thresholds, will be renamed under five categories of renewable materials. Below is a table translated and...Read More
Broader markets were generally firmer but quiet on Monday January 20, with equities in Asia mainly stronger, as were the base metals, while gold was holding up in high ground.Equities in Asia are consolidating recent gains, but multi-year highs in many regional equity indices suggests sentiment is bullish overall. Markets quiet ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, which start on Friday in China....Read More
Argentinian lithium miner Orocobre has signed two contracts for lithium sales linked to a pricing mechanism for delivery over the next three years.The contracts, for the supply a combined 10,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate to two Chinese cathode manufacturers, follow a trend of companies looking at pricing mechanisms to hedge their risk against price volatility.Lithium carbonate prices have gone d...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have increased with support from good demand and a lack of competitive import offers, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday January 20.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, rose to ?,?449.48 ($498.39) per tonne on January 20, up by ?,?5.70 per tonne from ?,?443.78 per tonne on January 17.The index was...Read More
China's steel refining and rerolling industry's capacity utilization rate was 80.2% in the fourth quarter of 2019, above the national industrial average of 77.5%, according to figures from the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Friday January 17.The country's industrial capacity utilization rate of 77.5% was 1.5 percentage points higher than the corresponding period a year e...Read More
Prices in Asia's hot-rolled coil market are poised for more upticks immediately after the Lunar New Year holiday, according to industry sources."There is a sense of tightness in HRC supply in Asia, especially with fewer cargoes heading to the region from March and April," a source at a major re-roller in Vietnam said.This is largely due to an expected decrease in shipments from Indian steelmakers...Read More
A summary of the financial results for Russia's largest steelmaker, Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), for both the fourth quarter of 2019 and the full year.In briefOutput and sales over the full year of 2019 were both affected by the major works being carried out on the company's blast furnace at Lipetsk, but these began to recover in the fourth quarter once the work was completed.Full year 2019 Steel out...Read More
China's steel refining and rerolling industry's capacity utilization rate was 80.2% in the fourth quarter of 2019, above the national industrial average of 77.5%, according to figures from the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Friday January 17.The country's industrial capacity utilization rate of 77.5% was 1.5 percentage points higher than the corresponding period a year e...Read More
Falling ferrous scrap prices have dulled sentiment in Singapore's rebar import market over the past week. The weekly Fastmarkets price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) import, cfr Singapore - which mainly looks at cargoes sold into Singapore on a theoretical-weight basis - was $455-465 per tonne for the week to Monday January 20, widening from $465 per tonne a week earlier.Turkish reba...Read More
High demand for pig iron, mainly in Asia, has supported further price growth in the export pig iron market in Brazil, sources told Fastmarkets during the week ended Friday January 17.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, was $320-325 per tonne on Friday, up by $5 per tonne from $315-320 per tonne a week earlier.A cargo of 60,000 tonnes was bought for t...Read More
The pig iron import market in the United States has gone up because suppliers have increased their offers, citing low availability of material for February and March shipments, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday January 17.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US, was $350 per tonne on Friday, up from $340-345 per tonne a week earlier.Suppliers from the Commonweal...Read More
Gusa Brasil, formerly knows as Sidepar, partly restarted operations in the state of Par?? in northern Brazil in early January, with the first pig-iron sale made in the middle of the month, sources told Fastmarkets.The restart will add a small tonnage to the pig iron market, however, so participants only expect a minor impact, Fastmarkets was told."Pig iron prices have improved so that makes it rea...Read More
The price of steel billet fell in most regions in the week ended Friday January 17 due to an unexpected drop in ferrous scrap prices in Turkey.The downturn in Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices affected scrap prices in other regions and put downward pressure on the global billet markets.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a US cargo of 35,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) at $295 per tonne cfr la...Read More