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
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
The three-month lead price on the London Metal Exchange rose by 1.2% at the close of trading on Friday September 20, climbing beyond the $2,100 per tonne support level, while forward spreads in LME nickel tightened over the afternoon. Lead futures closed at $2,120 per tonne, its highest closing price since March, while just under 4,000 lots were exchanged by the close. Reports of a restart at Nyrs...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Uptrends in the spot aluminium premiums in Rotterdam have faltered with backwardations in the London Metal Exchange December/three-month and January/three-month spreads starting to put material pressure on the physical market. Fastmarkets assessed the benchmark aluminium P1020A premium, in-whs dup Rotterdam at $100-110 per tonne on Friday September 20 from $105-115 per tonne the day before wh...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Diego Zanuso will begin a transition plan to take over as chief executive officer of Evraz' trading arm, Switzerland-based East Metals AG, while the current East Metals chief executive officer Joe Vazquez is set to retire as of July 2020.Zanuso has spent 12 years with Evraz, most recently serving as the global head of vanadium sales since...Read More
Chinese nickel consumers may be deterred from guaranteeing long-term ore supply by investing in Philippine ore production, delegates said during a panel discussion at the 18th International Stainless and Special Steel Summit in Seville, Spain, on Wednesday September 18.This is despite prevailing opinion that Philippine material is more easily refined and cost effective than Chinese nickel pig iron...Read More
Questions about the fate of stocks held by the defunct Fanya Metal Exchange have been a weight on negotiations in many minor metals markets since the bourse collapsed in 2015, and have contributed to the uncertainty that has stifled trade for much of 2019.Buying appetite in the spot market has weakened, and prices for some minor metals including indium, bismuth and antimony have reached multi...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Global scrap prices continued to fall in all major markets during the week ended Friday September 20, under pressure from persistent negative sentiment and with market participants seeing no prospect of relief. Turkey import prices fall further; suppliers accept lower prices US export prices down for cargoes sold off both coasts Asian import prices decline on oversupply Indian import prices down i...Read More
Prices for ferrous scrap imported into India moved down this week after a sudden drop in Turkish scrap prices midweek had a knock-on effect, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday September 20.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India, was $256.82 per tonne on Friday, down from $262.71 per tonne one week ago.At the start of the week, deals fo...Read More
The inter-merchant spot market for UK light iron scrap held steady over the week ended Friday September 20, with smaller sellers reporting offer prices in the upper half of the present price range, and major suppliers that process scrap reporting prices in the lower half of the range.The market had dropped for two consecutive weeks before September 13, with settlement prices agreed in consumer del...Read More
The markets remain in limbo this morning, Friday September 20, while they wait for any news from the initial talks that are underway between deputy trade negotiators in the United States.With the US, Europe and China all showing they are prepared to ease monetary policy and with some signs of slightly better economic data, the markets seem a little less nervous and with that prices are managing to...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Spot prices for lithium in China moved down this week due to lower prices amid ample supply, while the seaborne Asian lithium market also declined with increasingly lower prices reported.The battery-grade lithium carbonate price drifted lower. Technical and industrial-grade carbonate prices remained weak. Lithium hydroxide prices continued their downtrend due to low demand.The Asian battery-grade...Read More
Prices for imported flat-rolled steel in South America were mostly down in the week to Friday September 20, given a continuing global downtrend and low demand from the region.Fastmarkets assessed the price for steel hot-rolled coil import, cfr main ports South America, at $490-500 per tonne on September 20, down from $500-515 per tonne a week before and the lowest level seen thus far in 2019.New o...Read More
Turkish prices for hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled coil (HRC, CRC) continued to fall last week on low demand and further price falls are expected, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday September 20. G??rkem Bolaca, ceo of global steel trading company Galex Steel believes HRC prices will hit $380 per tonne levels in a couple of months. Global demand is weak and all markets expect price falls, he told...Read More
Turkish prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) and color-coated coil were stable over the week ended Friday September 20, even though market participants were expecting falls, sources have told Fastmarkets.Prices for hot-rolled coil, the base product for coated coil, have been coming down recently, and coated coil prices were expected to follow soon.Domestic pricesDemand in the country's loca...Read More