Shigemoto Toma joined Anglo American in Singapore last week as a senior base metals trader to expand the company's physical and financial trading book and help its shift towards being a miner-trader.Toma has joined the copper trading team, Anglo confirmed on Thursday August 8.Toma, who had been part of Macquarie's base metals trading team since February 2018, had mostly focused on aluminium...Read More
Shigemoto Toma joined Anglo American in Singapore last week as a senior base metals trader to expand the company's physical and financial trading book and help its shift towards being a miner-trader.Toma has joined the copper trading team, Anglo confirmed on Thursday August 8.Toma, who had been part of Macquarie's base metals trading team since February 2018, had mostly focused on aluminium...Read More
The meeting of battery materials market participants at Antaike's Battery Materials conference in Guiyang, China, came just as news broke of Glencore's plan to put one of its copper-cobalt mines on care and maintenance - Fastmarkets covers the Chinese market reaction and other topics of discussion at the conference on August 7-8. Cobalt sulfate trading pauses on big gap between offers, bids It was...Read More
The cobalt price will increase to more than $15 per lb in the near term following Glencore's announcement that it will shut its Mutanda operation by the end of the year, according to BMO Capital Markets managing director of commodities research Colin Hamilton. The cobalt market reacted swiftly to the announcement of the closure on Wednesday August 7 when the trader-miner said Mutanda would be...Read More
The Brazilian scrap market is facing a downturn in prices this year, despite the fact that material generation is currently at a low level, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday August 8.Prices of ferrous scrap have fallen by around 40-45% from January to date, due to the weak performance of the long steel sector and high scrap inventories in mills, market participants said.In some mills in the sou...Read More
Scrap metal cargoes from Japan have been refused entry into South Korea over the past two weeks after the country's customs started asking for certificates to prove radiation levels, sources told Fastmarkets. South Korea has also stepped up radiation checks on Japanese ferrous scrap imports, with inspectors reportedly boarding "every single vessel transporting Japanese ferrous scrap... to carry ou...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea scrap markets went quiet again one day after the sale of a US-origin cargo because the mills were expecting lower prices, sources said on Thursday August 8.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a US cargo of HMS 1&2 (90:10) and shredded at an average price of $294 per tonne cfr on August 7, which sent the daily indices down by almost $4 per tonne on the day.But the mill...Read More
A 3.3% year-on-year rise in China's exports in US dollar terms, which was above expectations, has provide some relief to markets, with Asian equities, base metals and precious metals up across the board.How long the more cheerful mood lasts is a moot point when generally the economic data is weak, there seems no let-up in trade disputes and judging by the strength of gold and the yen, and the weak...Read More
The meeting of battery materials market participants at Antaike's Battery Materials conference in Guiyang, China, came just as news broke of Glencore's plan to put one of its copper-cobalt mines on care and maintenance - Fastmarkets covers the Chinese market reaction and other topics of discussion at the conference on August 7-8. Cobalt sulfate trading pauses on big gap between offers, bids It was...Read More
Trade log for battery-grade lithium carbonate in China including trades, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets. Unless otherwise stated, all prices are per tonne on an ex-works China basis. Delivered prices are netted back. Fastmarkets prices Click here for Fastmarkets price assessment for lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot price range exw China, yuan/tonne. Fastmarkets...Read More
Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau has decided to postpone some of its capacity expansion investments expected for 2019 amid a weaker-than-expected local economy, while reporting year-on-year output growth for the second quarter.It has maintained, however, its 7.1 billion Reais ($1.79 billion) total capital expenditure plan through 2021.The company estimated 1.84 billion Reais of investments for 2019, a...Read More
Eastern China's hot-rolled coil prices recovered some losses on Thursday August 8, building on a pick-up in trading activity on Wednesday afternoon.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,710-3,730 yuan ($526-529) per tonne, up 20-30 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,740 yuan per tonne, unchangedA Shanghai-based trader said sellers in the city raised prices to 3,730 yuan per tonne in the morn...Read More
The Brazilian scrap market is facing a downturn in prices this year, despite the fact that material generation is currently at a low level, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday August 8.Prices of ferrous scrap have fallen by around 40-45% from January to date, due to the weak performance of the long steel sector and high scrap inventories in mills, market participants said.In some mills in the sou...Read More
Ferrous scrap prices are expected to remain stable in the United States through the second half of the year, compared with the downward momentum during the first six months, despite the recent recovery in prices, Gerdau chief executive officer Gustavo Werneck said on Wednesday August 8.While US scrap prices rebounded in the August trade, Werneck did not expect that upward movement to continue over...Read More
Brazilian steel producer Gerdau took a stronger stance in negotiations with pig iron and ferrous scrap suppliers in the second quarter to keep its metal spread from falling, chief executive officer Gustavo Werneck said in a conference call on Wednesday August 7."It has been difficult to pass on higher production costs in a low-demand scenario [by way of higher product prices], so we needed to take...Read More
The Brazilian scrap market is facing a downturn in prices this year, despite the fact that material generation is currently at a low level, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday August 8.Prices of ferrous scrap have fallen by around 40-45% from January to date, due to the weak performance of the long steel sector and high scrap inventories in mills, market participants said.In some mills in the sou...Read More
Scrap metal cargoes from Japan have been refused entry into South Korea over the past two weeks after the country's customs started asking for certificates to prove radiation levels, sources told Fastmarkets. South Korea has also stepped up radiation checks on Japanese ferrous scrap imports, with inspectors reportedly boarding "every single vessel transporting Japanese ferrous scrap... to carry ou...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea scrap markets went quiet again one day after the sale of a US-origin cargo because the mills were expecting lower prices, sources said on Thursday August 8.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a US cargo of HMS 1&2 (90:10) and shredded at an average price of $294 per tonne cfr on August 7, which sent the daily indices down by almost $4 per tonne on the day.But the mill...Read More
Billet prices in the Turkish domestic and import markets have weakened over the past seven days because of poor demand and a downturn in raw materials prices, sources said on Thursday August 8.Negative sentiment continued to dominate the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) export market for steel billet in the first week of August, amid a weakening of the finished long steel markets and the r...Read More
The prices of steel billet and rebar in Egypt were stable in the week ended Thursday August 8 on demand that remained weak due to the continuing uncertainty over the country's import duties."Most of next week will be Eid al-Adha [religious] holiday, so there was no buying this week," a local market source told Fastmarkets.In April, Egypt imposed a temporary additional import duty on rebar and bill...Read More