The Cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, % payable of Fastmarkets' standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt...Read More
Most futures contracts on the London Metal Exchange were slightly higher in the morning of Friday September 17, with the exception of nickel, following a Thursday session in which most metals declined. "After a volatile day [on Thursday], which saw prices lose ground, the metals were a somewhat dull affair [to start with] this morning. There was some end-of-week short covering early on, which was...Read More
Base metals prices on the LME and SHFE were mixed on the morning of Friday September 17, with most remaining listless despite being buffeted by a firmer US dollar, generally weaker economic data and disruption to both production and supply.Broader markets were quiet but firmer heading into the weekend and China's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday takes place on Monday and TuesdayBase metalsThree-month b...Read More
Russia's Primorskiy Metallurgical Plant intends to build a steelmaking facility in the country's Far Eastern Primorsky Krai region, with capacity for 1.5 million tonnes per year of heavy steel plate and 250,000 tpy of large diameter pipe (LDP), Fastmarkets has learned.The new facility, scheduled to begin production in 2025, will be built in the territory of Bolshoy Kamen in the south of Primorsky...Read More
South Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution (LGES) has agreed to buy a 4.8% stake in China's Greatpower Nickel & Cobalt Materials Co for 35 billion Won ($29.72 million), the Chinese battery materials producer said on Friday September 17. In addition, two parties have signed a supply contract for six years, which entails Greatpower supplying a total of 20,000 tonnes of nickel sulfate to th...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States rose above $98 per hundredweight ($1,960 per short ton) to a new record, with buyers projecting that an upcoming spate of mill shutdowns for maintenance will further tighten steel supplies.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $98.11 per cwt ($1,962.20 per ton) on Friday September 17, up by 0.57% from $97.55 per cw...Read More
Slab export prices from Brazil were stable in the week ended Friday September 17 amid slow negotiations and diverging trends in raw materials costs.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel slab, export, fob main port Brazil was unchanged at $870-880 per tonne on Friday.The flat steel market in the United States, which is the main buyer of Brazilian slab, continued to be strong. Hot-rolled...Read More
Prices for cold-rolled and galvanized steel sheet in the United States strengthened to new all-time highs again after market participants judged the upcoming maintenance outages at domestic mills as problematic for short-term spot availability.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US jumped to $109.50 per hundredweight ($2,190 per short ton) on Thursday September 16 f...Read More
Russia's Primorskiy Metallurgical Plant intends to build a steelmaking facility in the country's Far Eastern Primorsky Krai region, with capacity for 1.5 million tonnes per year of heavy steel plate and 250,000 tpy of large diameter pipe (LDP), Fastmarkets has learned.The new facility, scheduled to begin production in 2025, will be built in the territory of Bolshoy Kamen in the south of Primorsky...Read More
Coated steel coil prices continued to decline in Turkey in the week to Friday September 17, mainly due to sustained weak demand, sources told Fastmarkets.Producers in the country reduced their offer prices in the domestic and export markets following a drop in the price of hot-rolled coil - the coated steel substrate.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, domestic, exw Tur...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves in the week to Friday September 17.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...Read More
Base metals price movements on the London Metal Exchange were mixed on Friday September 17 following a week marked by volatility, with copper, nickel and lead down, the last-named having been under selling pressure for most of the past five days.Nickel's three-month price reached $20,245 per tonne on Friday, while its volumes were at their highest since the start of the week, with more than 11,400...Read More
Turkish steel mills continued to replenish their scrap stocks at the end of the week with another deep-sea booking, taking the total to six, market participants told Fastmarkets on Friday September 17.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Baltic Sea cargo late on Thursday September 16, consisting of 25,000 tonnes of heavy melting scrap 1&2 (80:20) at $439 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of bon...Read More
China is putting more cities in the northern region under its air pollution controls to reduce emissions during the upcoming winter.Cities in northern Hebei, northern Shanxi, eastern and southern Shandong and southern Henan will join the fight against smog, bringing the total number of cities affected to approximately 64, according to a draft policy plan released by the Ministry of Ecology and Env...Read More
China's domestic magnesium prices rose sharply in the week to Friday September 17 in response to notification of restricted operations at companies within the region that have both high energy consumption and high pollution output (Two Highs).The notice was issued by the Yulin Municipal Development and Reform Commission on September 13. The city of Yulin in Shaanxi province is the magnesium produc...Read More
Rising freight rates continued to push the import prices for flat-rolled steel products upward in South America in the week ended Friday September 17, despite offers from China remaining scarce and demand slowing down, especially in Brazil.Some market participants reported that freight rates were $20-30 per tonne higher, depending on the port of origin and the product. For coiled material, for exa...Read More
Prices for steel billet exports from the Commonwealth of Independent States remained firm over past the week, supported by demand from China.Having sold a significant part of their October allocations and even part of their November allocations to China in the week to September 3, CIS mills were mainly in wait-and-see mode and not hurrying to sell their remaining volumes.Rare indications of offers...Read More
Domestic steel wire rod prices in Poland were flat in the week to Friday September 17, but buyers were expecting the previous downtrend to resume in October and therefore were holding back from trading, Fastmarkets has heard.The Polish wire rod market was quiet during the assessment week with limited trading, according to sources."Activity is weak. Everyone is waiting for a price reduction," one d...Read More
Austria Metall AG (AMAG) has committed to carbon neutrality by 2040 and has called for politicians to create a framework for the stable supply of green energy at competitive prices in good time.The company laid out its strategy to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, which will focus on increased recycling, energy efficiency and the replacement of fossil fuels.Like its peers in the metals and mining...Read More
London Metal Exchange base-metals prices were mostly lower at the 5pm close of trading on Thursday September 16, with a rise in the US dollar and the intended release of more metal from China's reserves weighing on the complex.The US Dollar Index reached its highest on Thursday since August 27, with an intraday high of 92.97. The index was well bid, with investors expecting a hawkish view from the...Read More