The Turkish steel mills have remained quiet in the deep-sea markets due to limited trading activity in te long steel and billet markets, sources said on Wednesday July 31.The mills in the country booked four deep-sea cargoes last week.Sources believed that the Turkish mills still needed scrap for August shipments but the weak rebar...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday July 31 that are worth another look.A fundamental industry that has always been a primary facilitator of global trade, shipping aims to be at the forefront of digital technology. This report explores initiatives at the Dutch Port of Rotterdam - Europe's largest port by cargo tonnage - and how those connect with global tra...Read More
Dramatic inflows of lead stock into London Metal Exchange warehouses this week have challenged the market notion of physical tightness following a suspension at Nyrstar's Port Pirie smelter, which has been cited as the key driver of a recent surge in the lead price. Total LME lead stock soared to 79,050 tonnes as of Wednesday July 31, up 42.5% from Monday's 55,475 tonnes. There were significant de...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange climbed by 1.4% at the close of trading on Wednesday July 31, shaking off downward momentum emanating from an expected US Federal Reserve interest rate cut and subsequent dollar incline. Nickel futures closed at $14,490 per tonne on Wednesday, climbing from an intraday low of $14,255 per tonne while just over 7,000 lots of metal traded over...Read More
Dramatic inflows of lead stock into London Metal Exchange warehouses this week have challenged the market notion of physical tightness following a suspension at Nyrstar's Port Pirie smelter, which has been cited as the key driver of a recent surge in the lead price. Total LME lead stock soared to 79,050 tonnes as of Wednesday July 31, up 42.5% from Monday's 55,475 tonnes. There were significant de...Read More
Chinese buying activity appears to be supporting prices for premium low-vol hard coking coal despite a bearish outlook for the market among Indian buyers who pointed to ample supply and a subdued steel market in the South Asian country.A September-loading cargo of premium low-vol product was at $182.50 per tonne cfr China, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 31.Another cargo of the same pro...Read More
The US nickel briquette premium narrowed in the week to Tuesday July 30 with the material no longer being offered or traded at lower premium levels, while the nickel premium markets in China and Europe were quiet on a lack of import incentive and summer slowdowns respectively. US briquette premium narrows with business concluded at higher levels despite seasonal lull Chinese premiums flat wh...Read More
Sales at Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) dropped by 12.1% in the second quarter from a year earlier because of weakness in markets both at home and abroad, it said.Its sales volumes totaled 1.16 million tonnes in April-June, down from 1.32 million tonnes in the second quarter of last year, it said in its earnings report on Tuesday July 30. The faltering Brazilian economy...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday July 31 that are worth another look.A fundamental industry that has always been a primary facilitator of global trade, shipping aims to be at the forefront of digital technology. This report explores initiatives at the Dutch Port of Rotterdam - Europe's largest port by cargo tonnage - and how those connect with global tra...Read More
A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday July 31.Please click...Read More
Premiums for tin ingot in the United States edged lower this week, primarily due to a lack of fundamental support in the domestic market, while a declining London Metal Exchange tin price further exacerbated business conditions, but did little to budge European and Asian premiums. US premium falls for the first time in six weeks Warrant availability stifles European physical market As...Read More
A summary of Nornickel's production results for the first half of 2019In brief Nornickel increased production across all base metals, particularly copper, and platinum-group metals in the first half of 2019. Refined nickel output fell 4% in the second quarter of 2019 from the first quarter to 54,000 tonnes, which reflects scheduled maintenance at the...Read More
Swiss private equity firm Parter Capital Group AG has completed the purchase of Alcoa's Avil?(C)s and La Coru??a aluminium plants in Spain, the producer said on Wednesday July 31. The acquisition is effective immediately and includes the casthouses at both plants and the paste plant at La Coru??a, which are currently in operation, as well as the curtailed smelters at both plants. Both companies&nb...Read More
Latin American steel group Ternium expects to reduce slab production and sales to third parties from its Brazilian operations in the third quarter of this year versus the second quarter due to a "difficult situation" in the seaborne slab market, M??ximo Vedoya, the company's chief executive officer, said on Wednesday July 31.Sales of slab to third parties are expected to be 300,000 tonnes low...Read More
Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) called for the industry to push forward on price increases in the domestic steel market, given the international uptrend and higher cost inflation."The steel industry needs to be intelligent in the current business environment to take advantage from more expensive imports and ease the pressure from costlier iron ore," CSN commercial direct...Read More
Turkey imported 515,677 tonnes of flat steel in June 2019, down by 11.29% from the corresponding month in 2018, when 581,315 tonnes arrived in the country, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) said on Wednesday July 31.The country's total flat steel imports in January-June 2019 came to 3.55 million tonnes, 11.67% less than the 4.02 million tonnes imported in the first half of 2018, due to the...Read More
Latin American steel group Ternium expects steel product prices in North America to increase in the third quarter of 2019, following price rises announced by mills in the United States."Prices [in the US] have recently bottomed out and we believe they will continue to rise," chief executive officer M??ximo Vedoya said on Wednesday July 31.The price rises in the US were also expected to boost the a...Read More
India's Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has denied carrying out investigations that could result in safeguard duties being imposed on steel product imports into the country."There are no [safeguard] investigations being considered from our end [against steel imports]," a senior official from DGTR has told Fastmarkets.DGRT is part of India's ministry of commerce and industry, and is...Read More
Export billet prices from Iran continued to increase in the last week of July amid lively trading of September-rolling volumes.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel billet, export, fob ports Iran, was $390-395 per tonne on Wednesday July 31, against $385-395 per tonne a week earlier.Several cargoes have been reported sold to customers in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia within t...Read More