Seaborne coking coal prices dropped on Friday October 25 to the surprise of some participants following several weeks of robust buying activity from China.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $146.40 per tonne, down $6 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $161.53 per tonne, down $2.54 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $129.36 per tonne, down $0.69 per tonne.Hard co...Read More
Taiwanese spot import prices for containerized HMS1&2(80:20)may break past $240 per tonne cfr soon given the bullish sentiment in other key spot markets, market sources told Fastmarkets.Prices in the benchmark market have risen continually this week on the back of surges in global scrap prices, which was caused largely by higher prices in the key Turkey market.Vietnamese buyers have turned partial...Read More
A declining rebar market in China coupled with elevated prices for scrap have put a squeeze to the profit margins of electric-arc furnace operators in the country since September.Amid a pessimistic outlook for demand and prices, market participants are expecting these EAF operators - which account for close to a third of the supply of the long steel product in China - to cut their output soon.EAF...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices remained largely stable on Friday October 25 on steady demand, though market participants have a bearish outlook for the longer term.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,500-3,520 yuan ($495-498) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,500 yuan per tonne, narrowing upward by 10 yuan per tonneTrading activity remained moderate in Shanghai, while that...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were little changed on Friday October 25 despite continued drawdowns of LME stocks.The benchmark three-month copper price was unchanged from Thursday's close at $5,887 per tonne. On-warrant copper stocks continue to decline and are keeping the price well supported.A further 4,225 tonnes were delivered out of LME warehouses this morning following a 10...Read More
Despite ending 2018 as the best performer among the base metals after being the worst in the previous year, London Metal Exchange tin has entered the fourth quarter of 2019 as the laggard.The metal's three-month price on the exchange has fallen by more than 18% since the start of the year, when the price came near to $20,000 per tonne. At the same time, open interest on the exchange has also trend...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices were largely flat on Friday October 25, while billet and futures both moved up.Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,580-3,610 yuan ($507-511) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 3,550-3,600 yuan per tonne, widened upward by 10 yuan per tonneRebar futures rose after a data release on Thursday showed a sharp drop in inventories, sources said. Prices in the spot market...Read More
Key data from the October 25 pricing session in London. Key drivers- Sellers undercut previous offers in thin trading, in order to lock in business, while a greater focus is placed on contract negotiations for 2020. Some traders opt to lock in a profit, with prices at their highest since...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
An overview of the Chinese minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
Glencore increased its cobalt production in the first nine months of the year by 21% largely due to ramping up its Katanga project, the trader miner announced on Friday October 25. Year-to-date cobalt production hit 34,400 tonnes, up from 28,500 tonnes in the same period of 2018. Production at the copper department was 31,500 tonnes, up 23% year on year, while the nickel department production 2,90...Read More
Austenitic alloy steel scrap prices widened downwards this week because of ongoing poor demand and, in the case of grade-316 material, lower molybdenum costs during October, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday October 25. Fastmarkets' price assessment for stainless steel scrap 316 solids, domestic, delivered merchants UK, was ?1,250-1,350 ($1,610-1,739) per tonne on October 25, down by ?40 per to...Read More
* Lead touches 15-month peak * Copper hits highest in more than a month * GRAPHIC-2019 asset returns: (Updates with closing prices) By Eric Onstad LONDON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Zinc prices rose on Friday asLondon Metal Exchange inventories touched the lowest level in 12years, though analysts said the higher prices failed to reflectlarge amounts of hidden stock. Inventories in LME-registered warehouse...Read More
The continued unpredictability of trade relations between China and the United States has made long-term planning harder for businesses, including mining companies.But what would happen to the mining sector if the trade wars were to end overnight?According to the heads of the world's largest miners, the impact would be smaller than one might expect.For starters, there would not be a sudden rush to...Read More
The three-month tin price on the London Metal Exchange was higher at the close of trading on Thursday October 24, climbing by more than 1% amid low turnover while nickel futures maintained upward momentum over the afternoon.Tin's outright price on the LME closed at $16,775 per tonne on Thursday, a climb of 1.2% on the day with just 241 lots of metal exchanged. This was among the metal's lowest tra...Read More
The global economy has been transfixed by the China-United States trade war that came to the fore in the second quarter of 2018. When the trade war started, market participants hoped that an agreement would be reached by the time of the US mid-term elections in November 2018. But that date came and went without a deal. Fastmarkets then said there was a race against time before either a trade deal...Read More
Trafigura has offered Nyrstar minority shareholders ?,?22.5 million ($25 million) for their remaining 2% stake in the zinc and lead smelting company.Trading house Trafigura, which owns 98% of Nyrstar, had previously offered ?,?22...Read More
Declining nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange put China's stainless steel market under pressure over the past week.The three-month nickel contract on the exchange ended Wednesday October 24's trading session at $16,420-16,425 per tonne, down $510-515 per tonne from a week earlier.The contract price is also $2,030-2,050 per tonne lower compared with September 2's five-year high of $18,450-18...Read More
Turkish steel producers have remained out of the deep-sea scrap import markets as most of them are fully booked for November shipment cargoes, sources said on Thursday October 24.Steel mills in Turkey have booked at least 16 cargoes, totaling 500,000 tonnes of scrap so far in October and went quiet at the end of last week."Most of the mills have booked sufficient deep-sea scrap for November shipme...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday October 23 pricing session in Shanghai. Key drivers Chinese cobalt metal price softens on slow spot activity, while tight supply of certain domestic brands has eased amid profit-taking.The cobalt tetroxide price in China was unchanged, though lower offers emerged after prices for downstream lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) battery materials...Read More