Seaborne coking coal prices were steady on Tuesday August 13, though Chinese market participants remained bearish about the market.Buyer and trader sources in the country cited weak downstream markets, ample supply and import restrictions on coal at Chinese ports as the main reasons for their pessimistic outlook for prices over the next few weeks."The margins for steel mills in China have narrowed...Read More
US domestic mills resoundingly won the tug-of-war with ferrous scrap sellers this month and successfully limited the upside on prices, yet the outlook for September remains unclear, with some sellers hopeful for further increases while others believe the market may have peaked.Ferrous scrap markets across the country - including Detroit and Chicago - saw a $20-per-gross-ton increase on most grades...Read More
News of a Europe-origin cargo of ferrous scrap booked at lower prices by a Turkish steel mill came to light on Monday August 12, only the second such cargo to be traded this month, sources have told Fastmarkets.News of the cargo came to light late on Friday after the deadline for the indices on that day.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a European cargo comprising 30,000 tonnes of HMS 1...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices picked up some strength on Tuesday August 13 amid early gains in the futures market. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,650-3,680 yuan ($517-521) per tonne, up 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,610-3,640 yuan per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneRebar futures picked up late on Monday and stayed high for the rest of the day. The most-traded October contract stay...Read More
Silicon prices in the United States logged their 17th consecutive month of declines in August, a trend sources attributed mostly to surplus supply.Fastmarkets' price assessment for silicon, ddp US, dropped to $1.01-1.07 per lb on Friday August 9, down from $1.05-1.10 per lb on July 10 and its lowest since the price stood at $1.01-1.03 per lb in February-March 2017.The price had climbed to $1....Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ended Friday August 9. US Key drivers Excess supply endures, with contracted material, silicon-rich scrap alternatives and grade 5-5-3 increasingly coming to the United States from numerous overseas suppliers. Business remains subdued for automakers, lowering their demand for secondary aluminium...Read More
Under the cloud of the continuing US/China trade dispute, which has no end in sight and is weighing on global economic activity, market sentiment is subdued. But numerous events are buffeting prices - with nickel supported by short-covering and fresh buying against concerns about present and future supplies, while copper mine supplies may be affected by strikes at ports in Peru. Zinc and tin, rema...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia and Europe in the week ended Friday August 9. China Key drivers The price of antimony MMTA standard-grade II, ddp China ended a month of stability last week, dropping after some domestic suppliers lowered their offer prices to secure sales. Concerns over the possible outflow of antimony stocks held in Fanya Metal Exchange warehouses in the nea...Read More
A summary of the financial results for Austrian steelmaking group Voestalpine for the first quarter of its 2019-20 year, April 1 to June 30.In briefEarnings were down due to the fallout from international trade conflicts and the growing weakness of the global economy, which affects Europe's export-oriented industries.Profit margin came under presure from strong increases in...Read More
The Chinese ferro-silicon market softened over the past week in line with weaker demand, in turn fueling expectations of further price weakness in the near term.In Europe, however, the ferro-silicon market was steady after recording a small bounce in the prior week after suppliers held their offer prices ahead of expected uptick in demand. Chinese market prepares for further losses Europe awaits r...Read More
The upward momentum in global ferro-vanadium markets stalled in the week ended Friday August 9, with prices in Europe and China edging down. Chinese, European FeV prices edge down after spot activity slows V2O5 prices weaken in China while European market continues to riseUS ferro-vanadium prices soften amid renewed activityAfter rising for three consecutive weeks, the export price for ferro-vanad...Read More
UG2 chrome ore prices broke their four-week rally after the depreciation of the Chinese yuan raised purchasing costs for the country's importers. UG2 chrome ore prices down by $1 per tonne in China Domestic, imported ferro-chrome prices hold in China Low-carbon ferro-chrome prices halt their decline in Europe High-carbon ferro-chrome prices unchanged in Europe US high-carbon ferro-chrome market re...Read More
U.S. equity index futures moved lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 39 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures responded partially to an inversion in the Treasury yield curve by two year and ten year treasuries and partially to sharp weakness in European equity indices.Tilray dropped $4.62 to $41.40 after reporting a bigger than expected quarterly loss.Canada Goose fell $1.01 to $...Read More
Supply disruptions supporting the fundamentals amid weak demand As the base metals markets generally continue to endure weak demand conditions, mainly due to the US-China trade dispute, the supply side of the equation is setting the fundamental tone, with disruptions in many markets recently price-supportive. Aluminium: Prices tracking our Q3 low case Given aluminium’s oversold technical conf...Read More
Negative macroeconomic backdrop continues to undermine risk appetite Global markets were buffeted again last week by a persistently negative macroeconomic backdrop that continues to undermine risk appetite. US-China trade tensions, a weaker yuan and the sell-off in major indices - various key economic data continue to point to a cohesive global slowdown - are some of the highlights. Trade relation...Read More
Aluminium The LME three-month aluminium price ran into stiff overhead resistance on Monday August 12 after reaching a high of $1,793 per tonne. Sellers were actively defending just below the 50 DMA and managed to produce a rather negative bearish engulfing daily candlestick. With the 20 DMA fast approaching the 50 DMA, a bearish cross-over below it could trigger more downside momentum. The 20...Read More
Fresh buying picks up Copper, which made a gain of nearly 1% last week, enjoyed some fresh buying judging by a rise in LME open interest. The rebound was in part technically driven because the sell-off of 4.1% in the LME copper price in the prior week resulted in oversold conditions. As the market is no longer oversold, renewed weakness in the immediate term cannot be ruled out. The rebound was al...Read More
Bull market in sight after another outage at Port Pirie At their recent highs, lead prices had rallied 19.4% from the May lows. A 20% rally is generally thought of as indicating a bull market is underway, so we wait to see if lead can move above the $2,129 per tonne level to show a 20% rise. News of another production halt at Port Pirie this week has prompted fresh buying – the earlier halt,...Read More
Our focus this week is rounding up the main Q2 production results published this reporting season. Although some big target misses have made the headlines and helped to fuel the price rally, production disappointments are not the whole story, especially if we look at producers who don’t publish their results in the public domain. (Q2 comparisons are year on year unless otherwise stated.) Norn...Read More
The purge continues LME tin continues to trade poorly relative to its peers, suggesting that the purge of the overly long position held by speculative funds is not done yet. It is interesting to notice that only tin and zinc, for which money managers are relatively the most bullish among the complex posted a loss last week. Once the purge is over, however, we believe that tin prices are likely to...Read More