Trading activity was limited in the seaborne market on Friday October 1 during the start of the Chinese holiday.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $115.79 per tonne, down $3.44 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $118.54 per tonne, down $3.40 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $88.06 per tonne, down $3 per tonne65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cfr Qin...Read More
The Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt standard...Read More
Five key global lithium producers SQM, Ganfeng Lithium, AMG Brazil, Orocobre and Pilbara Minerals have announced the setup of the International Lithium Association (ILiA), which aims to provide a central voice for lithium producers and to promote the sustainable development of a global battery value chain.The founding members account for over half of current global lithium production, according to...Read More
Rising demand led to higher ferrous scrap prices for material imported into Turkey in the week to Friday October 1, while prices in most other markets were comparatively lackluster. Turkish mills were increasingly active in the market over the week, leading to an uptick in regional import prices United States sellers were able to sell at higher levels amid an increased appetite for scrap in Turkey...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed at the close on Friday October 1, but the copper price was the star performer closing 2.1% higher.The three-month copper price closed at $9,128 per tonne, recovering from Thursday's dip when it closed at $8,936.50 per tonne. It hit a high of $9,143 per tonne earlier in the day."Thursday's sell-off [for copper] could be either due to invest...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing sessions in India, Europe, China and the United States on Friday October 1.ChinaHebei Iron & Steel Group (HBIS) hiked its October tender price for silico-manganese to 12,800 yuan ($1,979) per tonne, up by 4,150 yuan per tonne (48%) from that for September-delivery.The sharp increase was attributed to lingering production restrictions among smelters caused by the...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe were fairly stable on Friday October 1 because buyers held back from making new deals, sources told Fastmarkets.Buyers have paused purchases because they anticipate that domestic mills will soon accept lower prices. In addition, the stocks of European distributors were sufficient so they felt no pressure to get additional volumes in the short run, sour...Read More
Spot interest in copper concentrate has been minimal in the week to Friday September 30, ahead of China's National Day holiday. Clean tonnages for smelter purchase were in the mid-$60s, below the Copper Smelters Purchase Team's fourth quarter pricing floor of $70 per tonne. A community blockade at MMG's Las Bambas complex in Peru, which started two weeks ago, could...Read More
Base metals prices were down on the morning of Friday October 1, extending the weakness that started to accelerate on Thursday, when the LME base metals closed down by an average of 2.3%, with tin dropping by 6.2%. The weakness was broad based with equities retreating, too. Asia-Pacific equities weaker this morning.Gold and the yen rallied on Thursday, and US treasury yields are weaker this mornin...Read More
Buyers in the Philippines are being asked to bid higher to secure steel billet cargoes due to limited supply available to the Philippine market, sources told Fastmarkets.In China's latest round of buying in the week to October 1, the steelmaking behemoth took in material from Russia, Turkey and Indonesia, among others. Total purchases of import billet to China since September 6 have now reached ar...Read More
Since mid-September, a swathe of provincial governments in China have imposed power cuts and rationing on local industrial users, which could cast a bigger influence on downstream fabricating sectors than previous curbs, sources said.This is the second time that industrial users have received power rationing orders in the year. The first was in July, when hot weather strained the country's grid. P...Read More
The import pig-iron market in the United States was calm in the week to Friday October 1 because steel makers - the key buyers - preferred to wait and see in an unclear scrap market, which is a strong indicator for them.Fastmarkets' assessment of the price of pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US was $530-540 per tonne on Friday, unchanged week on week.Steelmakers, who are the key pig...Read More
Prices for flat-rolled steel imported into South America were steady in the week to Friday October 1, with the bulk of November-shipment negotiations ending and with a week-long holiday in China drying up market liquidity.Most traders and mills were out of the market in the week, and deals were rarer. Chinese export allocations, which have already been low in recent months due to planned output cu...Read More
The collapse of the iron ore market and market turbulence over Chinese property developer Evergrande Group are adding to the economic woes caused by the Delta variant of Covid-19 for much of this year.It is hard to find bright sparks in the months ahead for the ferrous supply chain, which has been buffeted repeatedly in a short span of few months, starting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's comment...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves in the week to Friday October 1.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...Read More
The liquidation of Zambia's Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) will continue after the high-profile arrest of the provisional liquidator appointed by former president Edgar Chagwa Lungu.Milingo Lungu, the lawyer appointed to run Zambia's biggest integrated copper producer, has been arrested and charged with money laundering, according to a statement from the Zambian government on Wednesday September 29.&n...Read More
Poland's steel wire rod producers decreased their offers for October due to weak buying activity and cheaper imports, sources told Fastmarkets.Offers from local producers for October material were heard at 3,800-3,900 zloty ($953-978) per tonne delivered, down sharply from the initial September rolling offers of 4,100-4,230 zloty per tonne.The domestic wire rod market has been downbeat in Septembe...Read More
The Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lbtrade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt alloy...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Read More
A project demonstrating that the rare earth magnets in loudspeakers, which are currently lost to landfills, can be successfully recycled is set to be scaled up to commercial production, one of its participants said.HyProMag led the project along with metal recycler European Metal Recycling Ltd (EMR); the University of Birmingham; and Maginito Limited, a 25% shareholder in HyPoMag and a subsidiary...Read More