The price of domestic rebar produced and delivered in Northern Europe has been unchanged over the past week amid limited market activity, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 24.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?500-520 ($559-581) per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged from one week earlier on July 17."We have not c...Read More
Steel H-beam prices in Northern and Southern Europe remained flat this week, with market conditions quiet during the summer, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 24.This week, market participants reported good demand despite the usual summer slowdown as well as lower stock levels. Prices were expected to remain stable during August.Fastmarkets assessed the price for steel beams, domestic, de...Read More
Iranian producers were spurred to raise their export offer prices at the end of July after several weeks of active trading left them with reduced availability of material for foreign sales, Fastmarkets heard on Wednesday July 24.Offers of Iranian billet from August rolling were limited, while some producers had already started to offer September-rolling volumes, according to market participants. O...Read More
Turkey produced 16.994 million tonnes of crude steel in January-June 2019, down 10.14% on the 18.912 million tonnes produced in the first six months of 2018.According to the Turkish Steel Producers Association (T???oeD), the fall in output was largely due to the negative sentiment that has been dominating Turkey's domestic steel market since August 2018 when the country's lira lost significan...Read More
The first transaction of the week led to a fall in prices after a Turkish mill booked a mixed steel scrap shipment from the United States, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 24.Based in the Marmara region of Turkey, the mill bought a US-origin cargo comprising 21,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $294 per tonne, 22,000 tonnes of shredded material at $299 per tonne and 2,000 tonnes...Read More
Physical iron ore prices tumbled on Wednesday July 24 amid low trading activity and news of more supply coming from Vale's Brazilian operations. Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $114.97 per tonne, down $2.85 per tonne. Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines, cfr Qingdao: $114.89 per tonne, down $2.85 per tonne. Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe lo...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials.Latest transactions: iron oreIron oreVale, Global Ore, 170,000 tonnes of 62% Fe Brazilian Blend fines, traded at the September...Read More
Prices for seaborne cargoes of low-ash, low-sulfur coking coal in the second-tier segment continue to find support from sustained interest among Chinese buyers.A cargo of top-quality materials in the segment was traded at $166-167 per tonne fob Australia, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 24.Market participants in China reiterated that a tight supply of good-quality second-tier materials...Read More
Vale will increase the supply of its flagship Brazilian Blend fines (BRBF) after receiving authorization to bring more of its suspended iron ore mining operations come back online.The Brazilian miner will partly resume dry processing operations at its 13-million-tonne-per-year Vargem Grande Complex within 24 hours, with the National Mining Agency's authorization coming five months after a suspensi...Read More
Brazilian miner Vale has reduced its iron ore pellet output guidance for 2019 to 45 million tonnes, from the previous 60 million tonnes, following maintenance and regulatory plant stoppages, the company said in its production report on Monday July 22.Pellet plants in the company's southern system had to stop operations because of a decision from Brazilian mining agency ANM, following a tailings da...Read More
Fastmarkets' zinc premium, dp fca Italy, rose in the week to Tuesday July 23 amid livelier spot activity following a recent zinc cash/three-month spread contango, while zinc and lead premiums in the rest of Nothern Europe, Asia and the United States were unchanged on weak demand. The arbitrage for zinc continued to stay in negative territory throughout July, dampening spot trading interest in Chin...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil sellers cut their prices on Wednesday July 24 amid weak demand, although some participants believe a rebound could take place in days due to ongoing production curbs in the northern region.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,830-3,850 yuan ($557-559) per tonne, down 50 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,830-3,840 yuan per tonne, down 20 yuan per tonneSpot prices fell...Read More
An accumulation of high-grade copper scrap in the United States, following China's recent embargo of the material, has led to a drop in the US copper cathode premium range for the first time in a month. Elsewhere, positive forward spreads on the London Metal Exchange and ample availability kept Shanghai and Rotterdam premiums steady. Scrap build-up causes US cathode premium to widen downward Shang...Read More
China's rebar prices fell on Wednesday July 24 amid news that Vale was resuming operations at one of its iron ore complexes, which would raise supply of the steelmaking raw material. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,920-3,960 yuan ($570-575) per tonne, down 40-50 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,880-3,910 yuan per tonne, down 20 yuan per tonneVale, the world's biggest iron ore produce...Read More
Three-month prices across the increasingly macro-sensitive base metals complex on the London Metal Exchange were broadly up during morning trading on July 24 in anticipation of a trade meeting between the United States and China.But market skepticism on the finality of a trade agreement continues to pervade the market despite bullish assertions made by US president Donald Trump that China is looki...Read More
The following Fastmarkets minor metals prices changed on Wednesday July 24:Minor metalsCobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb: $12.35-12.70 per lb from $12.55-12.90Cobalt sulfate 20.5% Co basis, adjustment to...Read More
German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp approved investment funds to build a 230,000 tonne per year chromium coating line for packaging steel at its Rasselstein site in Andernach, western Germany, it said late in the week ending on July 19.The new coating line will be a replacement for the current line, following a change in European Union (EU) regulations, with production capacity remaining approximately...Read More
A summary of Antofagasta's production results for the first half of 2019.IN BRIEF: First-half copper production of 387,300 tonnes was up 22.2% year on year because of higher throughput and grades at most operations, particularly at Centinela, where output rose by 36.8% to 141,900 tonnes. Production at the flagship mine Los Pelambres was up 13.4% year on year at 180,400 tonnes. First-half moly...Read More
Hopes that a US-China trade deal may be moving a step closer have given equities and US bond yields a slight boost this morning, Wednesday July 24, but the metals have not followed.Further evidence of slowing growth with disappointing US data out on Tuesday, which bodes ill for today's flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) data, are no doubt weighing on sentiment.The International M...Read More
Fastmarkets is proposing changes to the specifications of its price assessments for stainless steel cold-rolled coil, Asia grade 304 (2mm), cif East Asian port, $/tonne and stainless steel hot-rolled coil, Asia grade 304, cif port East Asia, $/tonne.The proposed amendments to the location and quality of product to be assessed are made in response to changing market conditions. This will enable Fas...Read More