Physical iron ore prices were generally rangebound on Monday December 30, with low-alumina fines continuing to outperform.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $91.08 per tonne, down $0.43 per tonne.62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $90.17 per tonne, down $0.43 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $91.34 per tonne, down $0.31 per tonne.58% Fe fine...Read More
Trading activity in the major global billet markets was reduced in the week ended Friday December 27 due to participants being away for the Christmas and New Year festive season. Southeast Asia "It is likely that market activity will resume only after the New Year holiday and the market is very quiet now," a buyer source in Southeast Asia said. Offers of billet from Russia, India, Oman and Qatar w...Read More
Fastmarkets reviews how much of the EU safeguarding import quota allowances for hollow sections has been used and by who, with an estimation of when they will be exhausted country by country at the current usage rates. Read More
Malaysia will impose anti-dumping tariffs of up to 26.39% on cold-rolled coil imported from China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. The import taxes will be in effect for five years from December 25, 2019, to December 24, 2024, Malaysia's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI) said earlier this week.The products subject to the duties are cold-rolled coils of iron or non-alloy steel, of...Read More
The European Commission (EC) is planning to again review its safeguard measures for hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) flat steel destined for the automotive sector, market sources told Fastmarkets this week.In the definitive measures for metallic-coated sheets (product category 4), the EC split the product category into two sub-categories, 4A and 4B, with the automotive sector mainly consuming...Read More
The benchmark three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was the standout of the base metals complex, continuing to edge higher at the close on Monday December 30 and ignoring rising stock levels. The nickel price closed at $14,315 per tonne, up $105 from Friday's close. It traded in a $200 range throughout the day, earlier hitting a high of $14,365 per tonne. Despite being the only bas...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea scrap import markets remained silent at the beginning of the week due to the year-end holidays, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday December 30.The most recent deep-sea scrap cargo was booked on December 20 at $303 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from the Baltic Sea region.Since the...Read More
Trading activity in the major global billet markets was reduced in the week ended Friday December 27 due to participants being away for the Christmas and New Year festive season. Southeast Asia "It is likely that market activity will resume only after the New Year holiday and the market is very quiet now," a buyer source in Southeast Asia said. Offers of billet from Russia, India, Oman and Qatar w...Read More
The domestic price of hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe was stable on Monday December 30 due to limited trading activity, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was unchanged at ?,?439.39 ($492.16) per tonne on December 30 in slow market conditions.The calculation of the index was based on the...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday December 30 that are worth another look.Fastmarkets reviews how much of the EU safeguarding import quota allowances for hollow sections has been used and by who, with an estimation of when they will be exhausted country by country at the current usage rates.The benchmark premium paid for the supply of aluminium to main Japanese p...Read More
A string of long-term deals for cobalt hydroxide show that bullish forecasts for cobalt consumption from the electric vehicle (EV) sector are coming into play. Glencore will supply battery manufacturer SK Innovation with up to 30,000 tonnes of cobalt contained in hydroxide over six years, it said last week - a deal worth about $1 billion in today's market. And other deals also point...Read More
If you are a producer or consumer, or are active in the physical markets, then you had better be aware of a new set of regulations that will make it all the more important for you to choose the right logistics partner from next year.The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has ruled that from January 1, 2020, the marine sector will have to reduce sulfur emissions by more than 80% by switching...Read More
Most major aluminium producers agree that tackling the carbon intensity of the smelting process is one of the biggest challenges facing their industry. What they cannot agree on is how to deal with the situation, as a lively panel hosted by Fastmarkets during LME Week at the end of October showed. Aluminium smelting is an energy-intensive business and the market is starting to differentiate b...Read More
Fastmarkets reviews how much of the EU safeguarding import quota allowances for hollow sections has been used and by who, with an estimation of when they will be exhausted country by country at the current usage rates. Read More
The benchmark three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was the standout of the base metals complex, continuing to edge higher at the close on Monday December 30 and ignoring rising stock levels. The nickel price closed at $14,315 per tonne, up $105 from Friday's close. It traded in a $200 range throughout the day, earlier hitting a high of $14,365 per tonne. Despite being the only bas...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices were stable on Monday December 30, with the result of a miner's tender not confirmed at the time of writing. Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $133.65 per tonne, up $0.40 per tonne Premium hard coking...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly little changed on Monday December 30, due to continued quiet market conditions.Copper prices remained above $6,200 per tonne, but only edged up $5 to $6,219 per tonne from Friday's 5pm close. Meanwhile, aluminium prices dropped $5 to $1,820 per tonne."So far today the metals have been extremely dull and on thin volumes and for the gr...Read More
Copper has attempted to rebound since early September following a marked sell-off in the summer months where macro and fundamental forces have been prevalent.On the macro front, copper has benefited from a slight easing in US-China trade tensions and more monetary policy easing across the globe - including China, where copper consumption is the most exposed - that has shored up investor sentiment....Read More
The increasing consumption of scrap and a potential shift toward the electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking route from the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) route in China are medium- to long-term threats to demand for steelmaking raw materials, while in the near team coking coal import volumes will continue to be affected by iron ore procurement strategies.This was the basis of Fastmarkets research team...Read More
The discount for copper scrap imported into China has narrowed in December because Chinese consumers returned to the spot market to fill quotas granted for the first quarter of 2020. Fastmarkets assessed the copper scrap No2 copper (birch/cliff) imported into China 94-96%, LME/Comex discount, cif China at 35-40 cents per lb on Monday December 30. That compared with 38-40 cents per lb a month...Read More