Chinese vanadium exporters continued to reduce their offer prices due to lackluster overseas buying interest in the week ended Friday August 23, while European and US markets reported thin trading amid summer mill outages. Chinese exporters reduce offers amid limited buying interest abroad. European ferro-vanadium market faces thin trading. Vanadium pentoxide suppliers in Europe raise...Read More
Aluminium premiums were mostly stable globally during the week ended Tuesday August 27, with participants shifting their focus to longer-term contract negotiations. But the recovery recently seen for Rotterdam material was spreading throughout Europe. Rotterdam uptrend pushing European premiums upMain Japanese port (MJP) premium flat; focus goes to quarterly contractsPremium in United States' Midw...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday August 27.Please click...Read More
The Chinese ferro-silicon price continued to trend lower over the past week amid persistently weak domestic demand, while prices in Europe and the United States were steady in inactive spot markets. China's domestic ferro-silicon price drops on weak demand, adequate supplyExport price in China steady but vulnerableEU prices steady in quiet marketUS price flat due to inactivity Chinese ferro-s...Read More
The Black Sea export market for steel slab has come under pressure from the downtrend in the finished flat steel market and the weak sentiment heard in most outlets at the end of this month, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday August 27.Buying activity in the traditional markets of Europe and Turkey was reduced because of holiday absences among potential customers. But both markets were expected to show...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday August 27 that are worth another look.The whole battery supply chain will benefit from lithium benchmark pricing, according to Fastmarkets head of battery raw materials research William Adams. The auto industry is going through a period of unprecedented change due to companies introducing electric vehicles into their portfolios...Read More
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 London Metal Exchange cash/three-month nickel spread was trading in a $79 per tonne backwardation at the close on Tuesday August 27, its narrowest since July 2007 when it traded in a backwardation of $199 per tonne. Historically trading in a healthy contango, nickel's forward curve has recently become prone to pockets of tightness, attributed mostly to technical trading activity. It most recen...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices tumbled again on Tuesday August 27 in both the spot and futures markets, with the possibility of easing production cuts in the north leaving participants with a bearish outlook for prices amid trade tensions with the United States.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,600-3,630 yuan ($504-508) per tonne, down 50-70 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,600 yuan pe...Read More
The seaborne coking coal market was quiet on Tuesday August 27, leaving market participants keenly anticipating the next transaction to gauge the price direction.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $154.28 per tonne, unchangedPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $166.33 per tonne, up $0.08 per tonne Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $138.76 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, cfr...Read More
The export market for Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)-origin hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled coil weakened during the week ended Monday August 27 amid anticipated further price declines and high trader stocks.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel HRC, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $450-460 per tonne on Monday, falling by $20 per tonne week-on-week. "We see that mills are stru...Read More
The London Metal Exchange cash/three-month nickel spread was trading in a $79 per tonne backwardation at the close on Tuesday August 27, its narrowest since July 2007 when it traded in a backwardation of $199 per tonne. Historically trading in a healthy contango, nickel's forward curve has recently become prone to pockets of tightness, attributed mostly to technical trading activity. It most recen...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday August 27 that are worth another look.The whole battery supply chain will benefit from lithium benchmark pricing, according to Fastmarkets head of battery raw materials research William Adams. The auto industry is going through a period of unprecedented change due to companies introducing electric vehicles into their portfolios...Read More
Hilmar Rode will step down as chief executive officer of Nyrstar on September 30 to pursue other opportunities, the miner-smelter announced on Tuesday August 27, noting that the decision was a "mutual agreement."Rode, who was appointed Nyrstar CEO in December 2016, will also cease to be a director of Nyrstar from September 30, the company noted."Daniel Vanin is the chief...Read More
Ball Corporation has launched a pilot for infinitely recyclable aluminium cups in the United States, marking a further sign of customer-driven demand for sustainable products.From September and throughout 2020, Ball will roll out a number of pilots with major indoor and outdoor venues and concessionaires across the US. The cup is currently available in a 20-oz size and Ball aims to introduce addit...Read More
The publication of Fastmarkets' Shanghai copper bonded stocks assessment was delayed due to an administrative error. Fastmarkets assessed copper stocks in the Shanghai bonded zone as normal on Monday August 26. However, the calculation was not published until Tuesday August 27 due to an administrative error. The Fastmarkets price book and database have now been updated and the data has been b...Read More
Tin's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange continued its downtrend during morning trading on Tuesday August 27, with prices near the 2015-low and down 2% on the morning, while a fresh cancelation of just over 17,000 tonnes prompted a slightly higher copper price. At around $15,625 per tonne, three-month tin futures have fallen by around 12% in August, shedding some $1,900 per tonne of it...Read More
Prices for flat steel products imported into the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have decreased during the week ended Tuesday August 27 on lower offers, with demand yet to recover as buyers hold back until prices reach a bottom. The market is expected to improve after prices stop falling, according to sources. UAE Offers for imports of hot-rolled coil (HRC) from China to the UAE were heard a...Read More
Prices for steel rebar and billet in the United Arab Emirates have gone down over the past week, with demand remaining poor, sources said on Tuesday August 27.Market participants believed that demand would improve after the price stopped falling, because buyers did not want to book when the prices were still on the way down.Domestic rebarEmirates Steel is the UAE's largest producer, and was offeri...Read More
Turkey produced 19.919 million tonnes of crude steel in January-July 2019, down from 22.184 million tonnes in the corresponding period of last year, the Turkish Steel Producers Association (T???oeD) said last week.The 10.2% drop in output was largely attributed to subdued end-user demand and weakening export markets for Turkish steel. The European Commission (EC) imposed definitive safeguard...Read More