China's nickel pig iron (NPI) prices held steady in the week to Friday September 17 amid nationwide production cuts while those for nickel ore surged amid increased freight and tight supply.Fastmarkets price assessment for nickel pig iron, high-grade NPI content 10-15%, spot, ddp China was 1,430-1,450 yuan ($222-225) per nickel unit on Friday, unchanged from a week earlier.Prices have been unchang...Read More
Domestic steel rebar prices in Poland declined again in the week to Friday; buyers expect further price declines and so held back from trading in the week ended September 17, sources told Fastmarkets.Trading activity in Poland's rebar market has been sluggish over the past seven days, with most sources expecting substantial price cuts by domestic mills toward October when the new quota period open...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
Brazil's pig iron export market was firm over the week to Friday September 17, with long lead times after active selling to the United States and China through the first half of September, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil, was $480-500 per tonne on Friday, narrowing upward from $475-500 per tonne a week earlier.The latest...Read More
Prices for shredded steel scrap imports into Pakistan erased gains made in the previous week on Friday September 17, while Indian scrap remained rangebound, sources told Fastmarkets.PakistanFastmarkets calculated its weekly steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Port Qasim, Pakistan at $526.91 per tonne on Friday September 17, down from$530.42 per tonne on September 10, erasing the gains m...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Janie Davies, Cristina Belda,...Read More
Trading activity in the import pig iron market in the United States slowed in the week ended Friday September 17, while the market remains firm, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US was $530-540 per tonne on Friday, unchanged week on week."I have not seen any activity...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
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
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
The flat steel market in Turkey remained slow during the week ended Friday September 17 because of decreasing prices, sources told Fastmarkets.Most producers decreased their prices during the week, but it did not help to stimulate buying due to falling global raw materials prices.Fastmarkets' daily calculation of its index for 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao was $101.95 per tonne on September 17, fallin...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
Trading activity remained slow in the European hot-rolled coil market on Thursday September 16 because buyers held back from deals while they wait for a clearer price trend, sources told Fastmarkets.Buyers are waiting for the new quota period, which will start on October 1. Market sources said that large volumes of steel products are sitting in European Union ports awaiting customs clearance at th...Read More
Turkish steel mills withdrew from the deep-sea scrap markets after booking several cargoes for October shipment, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday September 16.Turkish steelmakers have booked at least five deep-sea cargoes so far in the reported week from the United States, Canada and Baltic Sea. Market participants generally agree that most steelmakers in the country have replenished their sto...Read More
Steel rebar and billet buyers in Egypt are waiting for prices to fall further before placing orders, sources told Fastmarkets.Global billet and rebar prices have recently been weakening; buyers in Egypt are waiting for prices to flatten before placing orders.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel billet import, cfr main port Turkey was $610-620 per tonne on September 16, falling from $620-...Read More
The Russian government is considering a near-threefold rise in the minerals extraction tax (MET) on iron ore from 2022 in order to balance the federal budget, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday September 15.The current MET on conditioned ores of ferrous metals in Russia is applied at 16.8%. This is calculated from a fixed base rate of 4.8% multiplied by a coefficient, which is currently 3.5, ac...Read More
Steelmaker Arvedi is in the process of purchasing fellow Italian stainless steel producer Acciai Speciali Terni (AST) from Thyssenkrupp, the German steelmaker said on Thursday September 16.The sale, which is subject to approval by Thyssenkrupp's supervisory board and merger control clearance, also includes associated sales organizations in Germany, Italy and Turkey. The sale is expected to be comp...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
Global trade flows of cobalt metal have been frozen by logistics disruptions including high freight costs and a shortage of available containers, market participants have told Fastmarkets.Cobalt metal is a highly liquid commodity, with traders moving metals on their books around the globe depending on price differentials between Asia and Europe.But in the past 2-3 months, such trade flows have bee...Read More
The largest steelmakers in Bangladesh were largely out of the market for containers of steel scrap on Thursday September 16 following recent deep-sea cargo bookings, market participants have told Fastmarkets.In deals done last week, two deep-sea cargoes were booked to a mill in Bangladesh from the United States West Coast at $530 per tonne cfr for shredded, while a second mill booked deep-sea mate...Read More