Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia and Europe in the week to Friday October 18. ChinaKey drivers The Chinese export price for silicon was unchanged at $1,370-1,420 per tonne over past week, with sporadic deals heard within that price range.The strength in the domestic market has continued in China, with increases of around 100-200 yuan ($14-28) per tonne from last week in both the southern...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
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
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
Macro factors still the dominant force To some extent the base metals are able to trade their own fundamentals, but macro headwinds remain the dominant force overall. This makes a sideways-to-lower grind the default for most metals unless supply disruption threats emerge and are deemed severe enough to change the underlying narrative for a while. Aluminium: Technically getting more bullish Based o...Read More
Chinese production continued to shrink in September Production of primary aluminium in China continued to decline on a year-on-year basis in September. Total output dipped by 1.6% year-on-year to 2.90 million tonnes last month, according to the latest data from China’s NBS. This follows year-on-year declines of 0.3% in August and 2% in July of 2019. Still, total output for the first nine mont...Read More
Aluminium The LME three-month aluminium price remained in low ground on Tuesday October 22, after being turned back by resistance at $1,745 per tonne, an area of previous support. Momentum indicators lack clear direction. The 20 DMA continues to trend lower, but the stochastics are converging in mid-ground. The RSI has also rolled lower and currently stands at 43. Further support is seen ahea...Read More
Copper boosted by dollar weakness In the current environment, copper prices are driven more by macro flows than fundamental flows. In this regard, last week, the LME copper price came under pressure most of the week despite rising supply disruption risks, including at Las Bambas, before rebounding strongly on Friday. That rebound was caused by an abrupt depreciation in the dollar following an agre...Read More
LME lead prices up 25% since May low, but SHFE prices up only 8% Chinese auto sales were down 5.2% in September and were down 10.3% in the first nine months of the year, and Friday’s release of GDP data showed growth dropping to 6% in Q3, from 6.2% in Q2. This was the lowest growth since 1992. These are reasons enough to explain why lead prices are underperforming in China compared with the r...Read More
Indonesia leading global mine supply surge... The latest data from the International Nickel Study Group (INSG) showed strong growth of 8.1% in global nickel mine output in the first eight months of 2019 compared with the same period of last year. Indonesian nickel miners continued to boost output aggressively, with 28.6% growth in the country over the reporting period. ...and will likely only acce...Read More
Prices outperform so far in October... The LME tin price has gained roughly 6% since the start of October, in contrast with a much more subdued performance for the broader LMEX (+1% over the corresponding period). This compares with a sell-off of 19% in the first three quarters of the year, when tin underperformed the LMEX. ...as supply cuts start to be priced in The emergence of fresh buying in f...Read More
Overhead resistance emerges LME zinc prices have remained supported over the past week by the 100-day moving average. However, for the time being at least, prices remains capped ahead of $2,500 per tonne, particularly after the latest Chinese economic data stoked concerns about weaker demand. GDP grew 6% in Q3, slowing from 6.2% in Q2, and below the 6.1% forecast. That said industrial production r...Read More
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U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 4 points in pre-opening trade. The Canadian Dollar slipped 0.14 to U.S.76.26 following election last night of a minority federal government. Procter & Gamble added $5.51 to $124.59 after reporting higher than consensus quarterly earnings and revenues. United Technologies gained $3.15 to $141.51 after reporting high...Read More
(Adds timings) By Elizabeth Piper, Kylie MacLellan and William James LONDON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson willtry to drive the legislation needed to take Britain out of theEuropean Union through parliament in the next 10 days, or elsebreak his "do or die" pledge to leave on Oct. 31.On Monday, Johnson was forced to abandon his attempt to havea straight 'yes or no' vote...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday October 18 that are worth another look.Global scrap prices in all the major markets recovered during the working week ended October 18, boosted by lower material availability and rising Turkish import prices.An increase in copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) so far this month reflects a drop in the number o...Read More
Billet prices in the major global markets continued to climb in the week ended Friday October 18, spurred by the tight availability of material in some markets, lively demand in China, and the uptick in global scrap prices.CIS, TurkeyOffers of CIS billet were limited last week. This was partially due to the absence of several Ukrainain mills, which quit the market due to unfavorable market conditi...Read More
BHP has reported a 9.6% year-on-year drop in metallurgical coal output in the three months to September, a period during which fob Australia prices for premium hard coking coal fell amid Chinese import restrictions and weak demand outside of China.The miner produced 9.35 million tonnes of met coal during the period, which also marked a 21% quarter-on-quarter drop, it said on Thursday October 17. B...Read More
Members of the incoming European Commission, expected to take office in November, have released more details of a planned "carbon border tax", which could levy charges on metal imports into the European Union. Products affected would be those deemed by the EU as manufactured with excessive carbon emissions. While details of what will be covered, and under what circumstances, will be included in a...Read More