China's steel mills posted a fall in profits in the first eight months of the year on weakening steel prices and costly raw materials. Profit in the country's steelmaking industry totaled 179.94 billion yuan ($25.17 billion) in January-August 2019, down by 32.3% year on year and deepening the drop in the month prior of 26.4% on an annual basis, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Most...Read More
Copper closed only slightly higher on Friday on the London Metal Exchange despite price-supportive news of force majeure being declared at the Las Bambas copper mine in Peru.The three-month copper price ended at $5,796 per tonne, a mere 0.2% higher than Thursday's close, even after the declaration of force majeure by miners MMG and Citic Metals at Las Bambas, which will affect the supply of copper...Read More
All base metal stocks in Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses, except tin, rose in the week to Friday October 11, after trading activity resumed following the end of the week-long Golden Week holiday in China. Copper stocks registered the largest increase in percentage terms, rising by 13.9% or 16,401 tonnes from September 30, to 134,509 tonnes as of Friday. The largest inflow in cop...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices were largely steady on Friday October 11 as participants mulled drivers, with Chinese buyers staying on the sidelines.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $146.62 per tonne, up $1.23 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $159.50 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $123.13 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $134.0...Read More
Austenitic steel scrap prices in Europe and UK may have found the market floor after a month of substantial decreases, while chrome steel scrap prices have fallen sharply on weak demand and low ferrous costs, Fastmarkets heard on Friday October 11."I think [austenitic] prices have found a new level after the significant drops we have had in the past month," one scrap trader said. "Material has sta...Read More
Sentiment in the market for pig iron exports from the Commonwealth of Independent States has improved, with demand appearing in China and mills able to avoid further price reductions to their traditional outlets, Fastmarkets heard on Friday October 11.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for high-manganese pig iron, export, fob main port Black Sea, CIS, was $270-275 per tonne on October 10, narrow...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Copper closed only slightly higher on Friday on the London Metal Exchange despite price-supportive news of force majeure being declared at the Las Bambas copper mine in Peru.The three-month copper price ended at $5,796 per tonne, a mere 0.2% higher than Thursday's close, even after the declaration of force majeure by miners MMG and Citic Metals at Las Bambas, which will affect the supply of copper...Read More
Fastmarkets has identified and corrected historical errors where the weekly counterparty indicator was published incorrectly in the copper concentrates newsletter. This has not resulted in any corrections to Fastmarkets' copper concentrate treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index because the correct value of the counterparty indicator was used in the normalization procedures.The correction only...Read More
All base metal stocks in Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses, except tin, rose in the week to Friday October 11, after trading activity resumed following the end of the week-long Golden Week holiday in China. Copper stocks registered the largest increase in percentage terms, rising by 13.9% or 16,401 tonnes from September 30, to 134,509 tonnes as of Friday. The largest inflow in cop...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were largely subdued with trading volumes low in the morning session on Friday November 11 while the metals market absorbs some of the previous day's United States-China trade deal optimism. But notable stock action continues regardless, with significant inflows of aluminium occurring while unprecedented nickel drawdowns carry on unabated. Some 9,075...Read More
There is some cautious optimism over United States-China trade negotiations after US President Donald Trump described the talks as "very, very good" and said he would meet Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in the White House on Friday October 11.But, we have been here before so it is probably best not to anticipate too much - indeed, with the base metals generally rangebound this morning that seems to b...Read More
Copper prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were up during the morning trading session on Friday October 11 following positive developments in trade negotiations between the United States and China overnight. The most-traded December contract on the SHFE was at 46,930 yuan ($6,591) per tonne as at 10.33am Shanghai time, up by 230 yuan per tonne - or 0.5% - from Thursday's close of 46,700 yuan p...Read More
Prices for cold-rolled coil and hot-dipped galvanized sheet in the United States have declined for a third consecutive week, widening the gap against hot-rolled coil prices. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US dropped to $35 per hundredweight ($700 per short ton) on Thursday October 10, down by 2.8% from $36 per cwt the week prior and returning to a ye...Read More
Indian steel mills are aggressively cutting their prices to increase export sales of hot-rolled coil with domestic demand for the commodity remaining weak, Fastmarkets heard on Friday October 11.HRC export prices from India have fallen by $5 per tonne in the current week while market participants were expecting further falls because traders were short-selling HRC aggressively in the Southeast Asia...Read More
The Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry announced permanent duties on steel billet, rebar and wire rod on October 10, effective from October 12, Egyptian sources told Fastmarkets.The permanent safeguard duty is 16% of the cif price and a minimum of $74 per tonne for steel billet from October 12, 2019 until April 11, 2020. The duty will fall to 13% and $60-per-tonne minimum payment on April 12,...Read More
Turkish prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) and pre-painted galvanized iron (PPGI) fell in the week to Friday October 11, with demand remaining weak, sources have told Fastmarkets.The price for hot-rolled coil, the base product for coated coil, has continued to fall as well this week, and coated coil prices have followed the downtrend.Domestic pricesDemand in the country's local market was...Read More
China's steel mills posted a fall in profits in the first eight months of the year on weakening steel prices and costly raw materials. Profit in the country's steelmaking industry totaled 179.94 billion yuan ($25.17 billion) in January-August 2019, down by 32.3% year on year and deepening the drop in the month prior of 26.4% on an annual basis, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Most...Read More
Turkish prices for hot-rolled and cold-rolled coil (HRC, CRC) have continued to fall over the past week on low demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday October 11.The uncertainty in the market persisted after Turkey started a military operation in Syria.On October 9, Turkey launched "Operation Peace Spring" in the area east of the Euphrates River in northern Syria, intended to secure its own bor...Read More
China has been ramping up its imports of merchant iron metallics in recent months because of the price competitiveness of such products as October progresses, market participants have told Fastmarkets.In August alone, China imported 234,601 tonnes of direct-reduced iron (DRI), more than its annual volumes in each of the past four years, according to customs data. Imports of DRI for January-August...Read More