The three-month price of nickel traded on the London Metal Exchange continued its descent below $14,000 per tonne to close at $13,675 per tonne on Friday 29, down by 2.3%, amid stainless steel demand concerns and ongoing macro tension between the United States and China. Nickel futures have come under constant pressure from the LME three-month nickel price depreciating by 27% to its current level...Read More
Benchmark fob Australia prices for alumina remained below $280 per tonne in the week ended Friday November 29 despite deals for India-origin material still being made at higher levels.Fastmarkets calculated the benchmark daily alumina index, fob Australia, at $277.81 per tonne on Friday, down from $279.30 per tonne at the start of the week.Key drivers The most recent fob Australia deal this week w...Read More
Copper stocks at Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses recorded the largest drop in percentage terms in the week ended Friday November 29.Copper inventories dropped by 11%, or 14,845 tonnes, week on week to 120,192 tonnes on Friday.Warehouses operated by SIPG Logistics in Shanghai registered the largest outflow, at 7,533 tonnes.Analysts attributed the slump in...Read More
A significant 42,050 tonnes of aluminium was put back into London Metal Exchange-approved warehouses on the morning of Friday November 29 while metal holders' bids to put nearby spreads into contango continue but as yet remain unsuccessful.A total of 25,275 tonnes entered LME-approved sheds in Port Klang, Malaysia, while 15,800 tonnes was delivered into warehouses in Singapore. A smaller delivery...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed during the morning trading session on Friday November 29, with the complex under pressure following a pick-up in tensions between China and the United States.The lackluster performance comes while market participants await further news of progress in China-US trade talks, but recent optimism has faded after US President Donald Trump si...Read More
The Shanghai Futures Exchange is moving closer to opening up to overseas investment with a recent feasibility study for the launch of qualified foreign institutional investors (QFII) and RMB qualified foreign institutional investors (RQFII) programs for copper and other products, the exchange's senior manager of commodity trading section I told Fastmarkets."This move is part of [SHFE's intention]...Read More
Indian domestic secondary billet prices continued to be subdued during the week ended Friday November 29 with makers of long steel products reducing their purchases of semi-finished material.The price of steel billet domestic, exw India, assessed by Fastmarkets on November 29, dropped by 100 rupees per tonne week on week to 26,000-26,200 rupees ($364-367) per tonne, compared with 26,100-26,300 rup...Read More
Prices in the CIS export billet market continued to climb in the last week of November, supported by the continuing uptrend in the international scrap market.Fastmarkets' daily steel billet index, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $390 per tonne fob Black Sea on Friday November 29, against $384 per tonne on Monday.Offers of CIS-origin billet were scarce because mills' allocations for December rollin...Read More
Indian hot-rolled coil producers have increased their export prices for the commodity by at least $10 per tonne in the past week, citing higher demand and raised prices in the domestic market.The price of steel HRC (commodity), export, fob main port India, was assessed by Fastmarkets at $445-450 per tonne on November 29, an increase of $10-15 per tonne compared with last week's assessment at $430-...Read More
Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas has decided to postpone a revamp of the No3 blast furnace at its Ipatinga mill in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, by 12 months to mid-2022, the company said on Thursday November 28."Our analysis showed that the blast furnace is able to keep going for another year, so our board of directors approved the delay," Usiminas' chief financial officer, Alberto Ono, to...Read More
Turkish prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) and color-coated coil, or pre-painted galvanized iron (PPGI), were stable in the week to Friday November 29, with demand strong in the domestic market because of expectations that prices will rise further, sources have told Fastmarkets.The rise in raw materials costs was the reason for the higher steel prices, they added.Fastmarkets' daily index...Read More
Rebar producers in Poland have been boosting demand by giving discounts on their products in the week to Friday November 29, a week after announcing price rises, sources told Fastmarkets.As a result, Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, ex-works Poland, was 1,970 -2,000 zloty ($502-510) per tonne on November 29, compared with 2,000-2,050 zloty per tonne...Read More
Turkish flat steel producers increased their prices slightly during the week ended Friday November 29, with demand strong in the market because of the expectation that prices will increase further.Raw material prices, especially those for scrap, have also continued to increase recently.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, was $268.32 per tonne on No...Read More
The price of ferrous scrap imported into India climbed by less than $1 per tonne this week while market participants struggled to source material, they told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva was $282.56 per tonne on Friday November 29, up from $281.98 per tonne last week."The market picked up a little bit today," a trader said. "Next month is only half...Read More
Pig iron export prices from Brazil increased further in the week ended Friday November 29 because of further sales to China and the United States.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for pig iron export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio climbed to $302-303 per tonne on Friday from $295-300 per tonne a week earlier.One trader reportedly bought 60,000 tonnes at $302-303 per tonne fob in position, although so...Read More
Turkish steel scrap import prices continued to strengthen in the latest deep-sea cargo, despite sluggish demand for finished rebar and billet, sources said on Friday November 29.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a European cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (75:25) at $263 per tonne and bonus at $278 per tonne cfr. The cargo composition was not clear at the time of publication.This was only the sec...Read More
Pig iron exporters from the Commonwealth of Independent States were bullish in the week to Friday November 29 because of low availability and several sales to the United States and China.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for high-manganese pig iron, export, fob main port Black Sea was $300-305 per tonne on November 28, narrowing upward from $295-305 per tonne fob a week ago.A sale was heard to...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials....Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices ended the week higher amid a flurry of transactions on Friday November 29. Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $134.66 per tonne, up $0.99 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $147.30 per tonne, down $0.47Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $120.70 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $130.25 per tonne, unchanged...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Europe, Asia and the United States for the week ending Friday November 29EuropeThe European ferro-silicon spot price climbed by about 2.5% over the week after jumping by more than 7% in the previous week - supply worries have boosted trading activity. One deal for 500 tonnes was reportedly sold to a consumer by a trader at ?,?960 per tonne although deals at th...Read More