Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly down during the morning trading session on Tuesday October 22, with copper and aluminium securing marginal gains while the rest of the complex weakened.Copper was the outperformer of the SHFE base metals in terms of percentage gains. The red metal's most traded December contract price rose to 47,140 yuan ($6,661) per tonne as at 10.0...Read More
Fastmarkets will discontinue the publication of price change articles on metalbulletin.com from Tuesday October 22. Fastmarkets will no longer publish price change articles for minor metals, noble alloys, bulk alloys & ores, European non-ferrous scrap and UK non-ferrous scrap and ingot prices. There is no change to the publication of the price assessments or indices. All prices and their price mov...Read More
China's ferro-silicon market was split between a weakening export price and a steady domestic price last week, with exporters battling soft demand and supplier competition while production cuts supported domestic rates.In Europe, prices have consolidated recent price gains, although the recent rally looks short-lived because export offers into Europe have appeared from Kazakhstan. There are no ant...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 3 points in pre-opening trade.Texas Instruments dropped $11.32 to $112.25 after reporting lower than consensus third quarter revenues and earnings. The company also lowered guidance. Caterpillar slipped $0.03 to $133.66 after reporting lower than consensus third quarter revenues and earnings. The company also lowered...Read More
The three-month lead price on the London Metal Exchange was the standout performer on Monday October 21, closing at its highest level since July 2018 and breaching $2,200 per tonne despite moderate turnover. Lead futures on the LME closed at $2,211 per tonne this afternoon, a climb of more than 1.5% against Friday's close of $2,172 per tonne, while some 2,850 lots had been traded by the close, whi...Read More
Primary aluminium stocks at the three main Japanese ports (MJP) of Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama rose by 0.1% month on month in September 2019, according to data released by major Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp on Monday October 21. Aluminium stocks at the three ports totaled 326,700 tonnes on September 30, up 600 tonnes from the end of August, marking the fourth consecutive monthly stock incre...Read More
Estimated global primary aluminium production fell by 3.2% month on month in September 2019, according to figures published by the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) on Monday October 21. Total worldwide primary aluminium output came to an estimated 50.1 million tonnes in September compared with around 53.3 million tonnes in August 2019. Depressed production figures were reported for all prim...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday October 21 that are worth another look.Brazilian apparent steel consumption was down by 6.4% in September, compared with the corresponding month in 2018, with demand retreating for both domestic and imported materials, national industry association Instituto A??o Brasil said on Thursday October 17.Estimated global primary alumini...Read More
Softening demand and ample availability caused manganese ore suppliers to cut their offer prices on Friday October 18. Many ore buyers in China held back from the market in anticipation of prices softening further in coming weeks after miners lowered their offer prices for November-delivery cargoes. This weighed heavily on high- and low-grade seaborne manganese prices and limited the volume of sal...Read More
The tungsten market remained cautiously bullish in Europe and China in the week to Friday October 18 due to lingering positive sentiment and tightening concentrate supply in China. The Chinese ammonium paratungstate export price rose by 4.3% week on week in response to continued strengthening in the Chinese market, but some market participants said they expect further uptrend momentum to be limite...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia and Europe in the week to Friday October 18. China Key drivers The high end of the antimony, MMTA standard grade II, ddp China price range continued to rise after domestic suppliers increased their offer prices on lingering bullish sentiment. Trading activities waned after some consumers retreated from the market after completing st...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Turkish steel producers skipped the first working day of the week, with no deep-sea bookings concluded and prices steady, sources said on Monday October 21.As a result of lack of fresh trades, the daily scrap indices remained flat at the beginning of the week.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), Northern Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was...Read More
Turkish domestic scrap prices increased up over the past week in response to rising imported scrap values, sources said on Monday October 21.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap, auto bundle scrap, domestic, delivered Turkey, was TRY1,380-1,505 ($239-261) per tonne on Monday, up from the TRY1,300-1,430 per tonne of last week.The upturn in the assessment came following rising b...Read More
Robust demand from overseas consumers of spherical graphite for the production of electric vehicles (EVs) has helped cap the downtrend in Chinese prices in the second half of this year, Fastmarkets heard on the sidelines of the Chinese Graphite Industry Association conference last week. The price of spherical graphite in China has declined steadily since the start of the year. Fastmarkets' assessm...Read More
Cobalt sellers held firm with their offer prices last week when a round of smaller-tonnage consumer purchases made up the spot market. Fastmarkets' price assessment for cobalt, standard grade in-whs Rotterdam stood at $17.75-18.10 per lb on Friday October 18, narrowing from $17.70-18.15 per lb a week earlier. The assessment for cobalt, alloy-grade in-whs Rotterdam was unchanged week on week a...Read More
Brazilian import volumes of flat steel products dipped by 22.51% in September 2019 while long steel imports almost doubled, soaring by 96.86%, according to figures from the country's economy ministry.Imports of hot-rolled coil (HRC) from China were only 619 tonnes last month, compared with 15,589 tonnes a year before.Meanwhile, China exported only 2,827 tonnes of cold-rolled coil (CRC) to Brazil,...Read More
Export prices for hot-rolled and cold-rolled coil from the Commonwealth of Independent States continued to decline over the past week, with buyers still pessimistic and waiting for prices to reach the bottom, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday, October 21.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel HRC export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $375-385 per tonne on October 21, down from $380-395 per tonne a...Read More
HRC import prices in Asia continued to feel downward pressure over the past week, with supplies from Russia and India weighing on the spot market. Fastmarkets' weekly steel HRC import, cfr Vietnam price assessment, which mainly looks at Chinese 2-3mm re-rolling-grade SAE1006 HRC and equivalent products sold into Vietnam, was $410-420 per tonne cfr in the week to Monday October 21, d...Read More