Flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates have increased this week as suppliers raised their offer prices on costlier raw materials, market sources said on Tuesday December 10.Offers for hot-rolled coil (HRC) from China were at $460-470 per tonne cfr UAE, while Indian and Japanese material was offered at $470-480 per tonne cfr UAE, according to the sources.Some sources believed that the...Read More
Domestic rebar prices in the United Arab Emirates remained unchanged over the past week, but are expected to increase soon in the wake of rising steel billet and scrap prices, sources said on Tuesday December 10.Billet importsFastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel billet, import, cfr Jebel Ali, UAE, was $445-460 per tonne on December 10, up from $425-435 per tonne last week.One UAE cu...Read More
Fastmarkets has amended the specification of its northern China domestic hot-rolled coil price assessment to ex-works from ex-warehouse after a one-month consultation period from the date of this notice.This is to reflect the changing market situation in the region where Tangshan's ex-works prices is growing in influence in the spot market.The updated specifications are as follows:Assessment: Stee...Read More
Algeria will switch to fob-basis trade from cfr starting from January 2020, Fastmarkets learned on the sidelines of the Middle East Iron & Steel Conference being held in Dubai from December 9-11."The government is doing it with an aim of controlling the outflow of foreign currency from the country so they want to see how much is paid for the product and how much is paid for the delivery," an Alger...Read More
Mexican scrap prices have logged further gains, with optimism growing due to steady demand and a positive ferrous scrap settlement for December in the United States.Prices for most grades of scrap in the region of Monterrey city in northern Mexico rose by 175-225 pesos ($9-12) compared with the previous week, except for machine shop turnings.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel scrap No1 bushe...Read More
Turkish steel producers continued to buy deep-sea scrap on Tuesday December 10, pushing up prices ahead of the winter holiday period in the United States and Europe, sources told Fastmarkets.A steel producer in the Northern Turkey booked a cargo from the US on Tuesday, comprising 33,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $295 per tonne, 5,000 tonnes of shredded at $300 per tonne and 2,000 tonn...Read More
Iron ore seaborne prices eased a little on Tuesday December 10, but some market participants remained optimistic that steel mills' restocking will likely lend some support.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.57 per tonne, down $0.36 per tonne.62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $92.66 per tonne, down $0.36 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.48 per tonn...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices edged up on Tuesday December 10 amid a strengthening market for the steelmaking raw material as well as that for coke in China.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $136.25 per tonne, up $0.04 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $150.34 per tonne, up $1.34 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $122.33 per tonne, up $1 per tonneHard coking co...Read More
Higher offers for Indian hot-rolled coil in the international market have raised the likelihood of transactions involving the flat product from China despite further price gains in the East Asian country's domestic market.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,820-3,830 yuan ($543-544) per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,660 yuan per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneSpot prices in...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange fell during morning trading on Tuesday December 10, softening by more than 3% against a fresh inflow of 14,742 tonnes across LME-registered warehouses in Asia and Europe. Nickel's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $12,930 per tonne, a decline of more than $400 per tonne from Monday's closing price of $13,340 per tonne. Tur...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices moved up further on Tuesday December 10 on early gains in the futures market, though sentiment among participants remained bearish. Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,910-3,940 yuan ($555-560) per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,650-3,690 yuan per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneSellers kept raising their prices after rebar futures climbed steadily in the m...Read More
Base metal markets have become more mixed this week with copper and tin running higher, zinc, lead and nickel consolidating just above low ground and aluminium oscillating sideways.Broader markets that have been seeing more risk-on are now consolidating while they wait for some key political decisions on the United Kingdom's general election, and its ramifications for Brexit, and on the United Sta...Read More
With the exception of those for zinc and lead that were marginally down, base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were stronger during the morning trading session on Tuesday December 10.The broadly positive performance comes after another round of better-than-expected data releases on Monday continued to point to a stabilization in the global economy, which in turn boosted risk sentimen...Read More
South African state power utility Eskom was forced to implement stage 6 load shedding for the first time ever on Monday December 9 amid a severe lack of generating capacity.Eskom implements load shedding - controlled power blackouts - to reduce pressure on the country's power grid when power is severely constrained.Eskom had previously outlined plans for stage 5 and 6 load shedding but, prior to M...Read More
Reversing a recent re-commitment to its New Caledonian operations, Brazilian miner Vale told investors it would "exit VNC (Vale New Caledonia)", but some analysts wonder if or how Vale will extricate itself from the long-troubled South Pacific island venture.Vale did not specify at its annual investor briefing how it would exit the nickel and cobalt mine. "By the first half of 2020, we will tell y...Read More
Mogale Alloys has issued a Section 189 notice - a South African legal requirement representing an intention to retrench staff - amid low chrome ore and ferro-chrome prices. Ilitha Mining, another subsidiary of Afarak, has also issued a Section 189 notice, the company said. Helsinki and London-listed mining and metallurgical group Afarak said on Monday December 9 it has been forced to scale down op...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 5 points in pre-opening trade. Equity index futures moved slightly lower following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus for Weekly Jobless Claims was 212,000 versus 203,000 last week. Actual was 252,000. Consensus for the November Producer Price Index was an increase of 0.2% versus a gain of 0.4% in Octo...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was higher at the close of trading on Monday December 9, holding firmly above the $6,000 per tonne support level while turnover topped the base metals complex. The red metal's outright price closed at $6,075 per tonne this afternoon, its highest close since May while volumes traded topped 20,000 lots exchanged by the close. Copper...Read More
Rising secondary aluminium prices in Asia helped drive European secondary aluminium ingot prices up last week from its recent decade-long low. Tight aluminium scrap supply in China due to shrinking scrap import quotas in the country have led to more expensive production costs for secondary aluminium ingots in the region. That has prompted market participants in Asia to seek potentially cheaper met...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was higher during morning trading on Monday December 9, with prices holding above nearby support levels against high turnover, while nickel futures fell by 2%.Copper's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $6,009 per tonne, while volumes traded were high over the morning at more than 7,500 lots as of 9:05am London time. The red met...Read More