Electric vehicle (EV) production growth in China has slowed over the second half of this year, dropping more quickly than the market expected, Houshan Bai, chairman of Ningbo Ronbay New Energy Technology Co, told delegates at a nickel and cobalt conference on Tuesday November 5. In the first six months, EV sales and production in China had been in a healthy upturn, but slower growth started to eme...Read More
Daniel Hisshion has joined Lewer Corp as business development manager, he confirmed to Fastmarkets.Lewer is an Australian privately owned company, established in 1972, which specializes in natural resources and in the sourcing, supply and distribution of materials such as gold,...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
Turkish exports of flat steel products declined by 21.8% year-on-year to 393,716 tonnes in September 2019, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).This compares with a volume of 503,524 tonnes in the corresponding period of 2018, the institute said.The reason for decrease in exports was the lackluster demand for Turkish flat steel...Read More
Hot-rolled coil import prices in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have gone down this week on lower offers, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday November 5.Buyers were still reluctant to book large tonnages because of the falling prices as well as the weak end-user demand, they said.UAEOffer prices for HRC from China and Japan were heard in the UAE at $420-430 per tonne cfr this week, with...Read More
Import prices for steel billet and rebar in the United Arab Emirates have decreased over the past week, but domestic rebar prices remained stable, market sources said on Tuesday November 5.Demand for long steel was still moderate in the country, and buyers preferred to buy small quantities in order to avoid holding high stocks at the end of the year.Billet importsBillet was offered from Oman at ab...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil exporters issue higher offers on Tuesday November 5 after a strengthening of the domestic market and amid the emergence of higher overseas bids.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,510-3,530 yuan ($499-502) per tonne, widening upward by 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,520 yuan per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneBoth Shanghai-based and Tangshan-based traders told Fa...Read More
Export prices for Chinese cold-rolled coil and hot-dipped galvanized coil firmed during the week to Tuesday November 5 as producers refused to lower their asking prices while they are able to obtain better prices domestically, sources told Fastmarkets.Market participants had expected export prices to fall further last month but such a decline failed to materialize due to the support from domestic...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices remained steady on Tuesday November 5, with premium mid-vol cargoes fetching around $140-142 per tonne cfr China this week, largely in line with last week's levels.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $133.29 per tonne, down by $0.87 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $146.69 per tonne, up by $0.33 per tonneHard coking coal, fob...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices were rangebound on Tuesday November 5, with market participants remaining jittery over high inventories and the upcoming demand lull over the winter season.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $83.30 per tonne, up $0.03 per tonne.62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $83.12 per tonne, up $0.03 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $82.70 per...Read More
The 62% Fe iron ore market moved either side of the $90-per-tonne mark for most of October, with the average price falling by 3.5% month on month, while the average price for 65% Fe iron ore fell by 2.7%.Traded volumes for the Singapore Exchange's 65% Fe derivatives contract - which was launched in December 2018 and which is settled against Fastmarkets' daily index for iron ore, 65% Fe Brazil-orig...Read More
The London Metal Exchange's plans to launch a new trading platform in 2021 could bring a host of new functionality enhancements to its electronic and inter-office market, from variable tick sizes to additional order types and greater self-service user management.Yet with the LME also targeting the eventual decommissioning of its current LMEselect electronic trading system - which was first introdu...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was higher across morning trading on Tuesday November 5, with price action boosted by a softer dollar index and positive forward spreads. Copper's outright price was recently seen at $5,918 per tonne, with just under 2,500 lots exchanged as at 8.40am London time. Meanwhile, buying in LME copper remains supported by positive forward spreads,...Read More
Chinese rebar prices picked up on Tuesday November 5 despite a dip in trading activity caused by transport curbs put up in conjunction with the China International Import Expo in Shanghai amid gains in the futures market.Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,710-3,740 yuan ($529-533) per tonne, up 40 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,630-3,660 yuan per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonnesTraffic movements i...Read More
The combination of some easing in Chinese lending rates and talk that United States officials may be prepared to drop some tariffs on China has led to more risk-on in broader markets.The three leading US indices, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite closed on record highs on Monday November 4 and US treasury yields are climbing, but the metals are looking quite mi...Read More
Copper prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange edged up during the morning trading session on Tuesday November 5, supported by improved risk sentiment following positive trade developments.News that China is reviewing locations in the United States where Chinese President Xi Jinping would be willing to meet US counterpart Donald Trump to sign the first phase of a trade deal between the two nations...Read More
World manganese ore supply rose 5.4% year on year in September to 1.87 million tonnes of manganese units, according to the International Manganese Institute (IMnI). Over the first nine months of the year, world supply rose 8% year on year due to higher production in Africa and the Americas, which offset production cuts in the Asia and Oceania region and in Europe, according to the IMnI's latest re...Read More
Fastmarkets is proposing to reduce the frequency of publication of its European germanium metal and tellurium assessments and Chinese germanium dioxide assessment. Fastmarkets selects the frequency of publication of its price assessments after considering the number of data points (deals, bids, offers, deals heard and assessments) that it can reasonably expect to collect on a consistent basis in t...Read More
Finnish stainless steelmaker Outokumpu has reported a "challenging quarter" and a drop in earnings for the period July-September 2019, due to a weak market and a sharp increase in the price of nickel, the company said in its quarterly results statement.Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) were ?,?45 million ($50 million) in the third quarter of the year, down fro...Read More
U.S equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 3 points in pre-opening trade.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the initial estimate of third quarter non-farm Productivity. Consensus was an annualized growth rate of 0.9% versus an annualized growth rate at 2.3% in the second quarter. Actual was a deficit of 0.3%. HP Inc. gained $1.40 to $19....Read More