The whole battery supply chain will benefit from lithium benchmark pricing, Fastmarkets head of battery raw materials research William Adams says as he explores what is driving auto manufacturers to support this pricing mechanism. The auto industry is going through a period of unprecedented change due to companies introducing electric vehicles (EV) into their portfolios alongside internal combusti...Read More
The dream of building a new world-class copper-gold mine in Pakistan in an area bordering Afghanistan and Iran has been dashed, for now at least. The saga of Tethyan Copper Co's (TCC) efforts to develop the Reko Diq mine found resolution last week with an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ruling in favor of TCC following a dispute that has rumbled on for years.TCC,...Read More
China's month-on-month new electric vehicles (NEV) sales rebounded in August after month-on-month declines in June and July. The drop in sales between May and June was the first drop since September 2016, but Fastmarkets MB had expected Chinese NEV sales to dip temporarily after the June subsidy changes came into effect because consumers and NEV manufacturers would have to adjust to the new subsid...Read More
The increasing consumption of scrap and a potential shift toward the electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking route from the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) route in China are medium- to long-term threats to demand for steelmaking raw materials, while in the near team coking coal import volumes will continue to be affected by iron ore procurement strategies.This was the basis of Fastmarkets research team...Read More
Iron ore prices fell sharply in the second half of November after climbing through October, with prices for higher-grade material pioneering the decline.Fastmarkets MB daily benchmark for 65% Fe fines dropped by 22% by Monday November 26 after peaking on October 29. The 62% Fe iron ore index declined by 16% over the period, as some Chinese steelmakers started to seek larger volumes of cheaper ores...Read More
The steel scrap sector in the United States still depends on exports to Turkey, a member of the Fastmarkets research team said during the ferrous session at the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) conference in London.This dependence persists despite the changes in the international markets created by the US' imposition of its Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel products, metals analyst Le...Read More
Aluminium billet premiums in Europe and Brazil fell to new lows on Friday September 27, while spot market illiquidity in Asia and the United States left the premium in each of those regions unchanged. European premiums fall to multi-year lowsBrazilian premium dampened by weak demandThai premium extends inactivity to nine monthsUS premium flat for eight weeks; contract talks ongoingPoor demand plag...Read More
A lesser volume of 3,925 tonnes flowed out of global LME warehouses at the same time, while 325 tonnes were freshly cancelled. LME aluminium stocks were 914,725 tonnes on the day.Fresh inflows of aluminium into London Metal Exchange-approved warehouses capped any gains in the light metal's three-month price at the afternoon close of trading on Friday September 27.The LME three-month aluminium pric...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in China, Europe and the United States for the week ending Friday September 27. Europe The high carbon ferro-chrome price dropped at the top end of the current range after reports of deals done below that range, although most sources reported quiet business conditions.The market is expected to be relatively quiet ahead of the fourth-quarter European charge and h...Read More
The federal court in Bel?(C)m, Brazil, has lifted its final embargo on Alunorte's new bauxite residue disposal (DRS2) under a criminal lawsuit, Norwegian aluminium producer Norsk Hydro announced on Thursday September 26.The decision by the federal court to lift the DRS2 embargo under the criminal lawsuit comes after a similar decision on September 20 to lift the DRS2 embargo under a civil lawsuit....Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and their latest price moves.Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
The inter-merchant spot market for UK light iron scrap fell again during the week ended Friday September 27 after briefly stabilizing the week before, with shredders cutting their offer prices and smaller suppliers matching that move.The market is expecting further price losses in the near term due to weaker steel sector demand, as well as lower prices in European export markets to Turkey and the...Read More
Global scrap prices continued to fall in all of the major markets during the working week from Monday September 23 to Friday September 27, because of the limited demand for finished steel and widespread negative sentiment. Turkey booked more cargoes for November, prices down Cheaper Turkish cargoes drove down US prices on both coasts Price fall continuds in Southeast Asia amid bearish sentiment Tr...Read More
European austenitic alloy steel scrap prices dropped again this week, pressured lower by poor demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday September 27. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for stainless steel scrap 18/8 solids, domestic, delivered merchants UK was ?780-820 ($963-1,012) per tonne on Friday, down by ?40-50 per tonne from a week earlier.This is the third consecutive week that decrea...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
A benchmark price is needed in the lithium industry, Pertti Lamberg, the CEO at Finnish lithium company Keliber, said at Fastmarkets' Battery Materials Europe 2019 conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Keliber has been actively supporting a price mechanism that can be used as a benchmark by the industry, Lamberg said during a lithium panel on Friday September 27. "A price mechanism is needed a...Read More
Turkish prices for hot-rolled coil continued to fall last week on low demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday September 27. Demand is unlikely to improve in the coming weeks because of weak steel and raw material prices, Fastmarkets was told. HRC exports Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel HRC, export, fob main port Turkey, was $425-435 per tonne on September 27, down from $435-...Read More