Prices in Southeast Asia's steel billet market declined after a major producer in India sold competitively priced cargoes into the region, sources said."The Indian producer reduced its asking price to attract customers because of limited buying interest in its domestic market during the country's monsoon season," a trader in Southeast Asia said.The transactions were reportedly concluded at $440-44...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
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
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange continued its uptrend at the close of trading on Thursday August 8, cooling from an intraday high of $16,690 per tonne to close just short of $16,000 per tonne, while lead's continued rise saw its outright price close at more than $2,000 per tonne.Nickel futures closed at $15,880 per tonne on Thursday afternoon, holding near their highest l...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
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
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday August 8 that are worth another look.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 disc...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 three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange continued its uptrend at the close of trading on Thursday August 8, cooling from an intraday high of $16,690 per tonne to close just short of $16,000 per tonne, while lead's continued rise saw its outright price close at more than $2,000 per tonne.Nickel futures closed at $15,880 per tonne on Thursday afternoon, holding near their highest l...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices largely leveled off on Thursday August 8 after some volatility and relatively active trading earlier this week.A Chinese steelmaker is heard to have bought a Panamax cargo of top brand premium hard coking coal at $171-172 per tonne cfr China, compared with a traded level of $173 per tonne cfr late last week.A lower ranked brand of hard coking coal changed hands at about...Read More
The seaborne iron ore market halted its downward spiral on Thursday August 8, with the return of some buying interest keeping prices from falling for a seventh consecutive trading day. Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $94.12 per tonne, up $0.81 per tonne.Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines, cfr Qingdao: $92.62 per tonne, up $0.81 per tonne.Fastmarke...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
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
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday August 8 that are worth another look.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 disc...Read More
German copper refiner Aurubis Group has forecast a continued weakening of the European copper market in its latest financial statement, indicating a significant dent to earnings as a result of subdued copper demand across the continent."Demand for flat rolled products, especially in the European automotive sector, has been declining since Autumn 2018. This is expected to continue for the rest of t...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 three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange continued its upward trajectory during morning trading on Thursday August 8, rallying by more than 11% to reach its highest level in 18 months. Nickel's futures price reached an intra-morning high of $16,690 per tonne, appreciating by more than $1,800 per tonne, while more than 10,600 lots have already traded as at 9am London time. In what...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
China's domestic stainless steel prices increased over the past week amid unabated concerns over Indonesia's export ban for unprocessed nickel ore, which is set to come into effect in 2022.Fastmarkets' price assessment for stainless steel cold-rolled coil 2mm grade 304 domestic, ex-whs China in the country's major market of Wuxi was 15,000-15,400 yuan ($2,127-2,183) per tonne including value-added...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