The United States Secretary of Commerce has joined the growing chorus of voices questioning the current method of setting the US Midwest aluminium premium. Wilbur Ross said the US Midwest aluminium premium is at inflated levels that do not justify the cost of transportation and logistical handling costs that it was originally designed to reflect. His view is being echoed by a number of...Read More
Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange continued its rally throughout afternoon trading on Thursday July 18, closing just below $15,000 per tonne amid a continued flurry of technical buying and a seven-year low in LME stocks. Nickel's three-month price on the LME closed at $14,850 per tonne, climbing over 5% from an intraday low of $14,300 per tonne to trade at an intraday high of...Read More
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (HKEX) will launch US dollar-denominated London Metal Mini Futures for six base metals starting August 5, the exchange said recently. The company, which has wholly owned the London Metal Exchange since 2012, said that the new Hong Kong-listed contracts will be available for aluminium, zinc, copper, nickel, tin and lead. The move is the latest attempt from HKEX and th...Read More
Optimism among China's hot-rolled coil exporters led to them resisting the pressure to lower their prices on Thursday July 18 despite a retreat in the domestic market.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,880-3,900 yuan ($564-567) per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,840-3,860 yuan per tonne, widening downward by 10 yuan per tonneSpot prices weakened across the country with t...Read More
China's month-on-month new electric vehicles (NEV) sales rebounded in August after month-on-month declines in June and July. The drop in sales between May and June was the first drop since September 2016, but Fastmarkets MB had expected Chinese NEV sales to dip temporarily after the June subsidy changes came into effect because consumers and NEV manufacturers would have to adjust to the new subsid...Read More
Iron ore prices fell sharply in the second half of November after climbing through October, with prices for higher-grade material pioneering the decline.Fastmarkets MB daily benchmark for 65% Fe fines dropped by 22% by Monday November 26 after peaking on October 29. The 62% Fe iron ore index declined by 16% over the period, as some Chinese steelmakers started to seek larger volumes of cheaper ores...Read More
The steel scrap sector in the United States still depends on exports to Turkey, a member of the Fastmarkets research team said during the ferrous session at the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) conference in London.This dependence persists despite the changes in the international markets created by the US' imposition of its Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel products, metals analyst Le...Read More
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (HKEX) will launch US dollar-denominated London Metal Mini Futures for six base metals starting August 5, the exchange said recently. The company, which has wholly owned the London Metal Exchange since 2012, said that the new Hong Kong-listed contracts will be available for aluminium, zinc, copper, nickel, tin and lead. The move is the latest attempt from HKEX and th...Read More
Steel billet prices in Turkey have gone down slightly over the past seven days due to weak demand and a downturn in finished steel prices, sources said on Thursday July 18.The mills in Turkey were showing no interest in billet imports because of the sluggish sales of finished steel this week.Suppliers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) lowered their offers to $435-440 per tonne cfr Tu...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday July 18 that are worth another look.Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing will launch US dollar-denominated London Metal Mini Futures for six base metals starting Monday August 5, the exchange said recently. Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange continued its rally throughout afternoon trading on Thursday J...Read More
A summary of South32's base metals production volumes published on Thursday July 18 for the financial full year of 2019 ended June 30. IN BRIEF Aluminium Production at South32's Hillside aluminium smelter increased by 3,000 tonnes to a record 715,000 tonnes during the 2019 financial year ended June 30, 2019. Sales at the smelter increased by 4% in the June 2019 quarter to 191,000...Read More
Production at South32's Hillside aluminium smelter in South Africa increased by 3,000 tonnes to a record 715,000 tonnes during its 2019 financial year ended June 30, 2019, the producer said on Thursday July 18. Sales at the smelter increased by 4% in the June 2019 quarter to 191,000 tonnes from 183,000 tonnes in the same quarter in 2018. "We achieved record annual production at Hillside... Th...Read More
A summary of Anglo American's production results for the second quarter of 2019 following the company's results report released on Thursday July 18. IN BRIEF: Anglo American produced 159,100 tonnes of copper concentrates in the second quarter of 2019, up by 1% from the 158,000 tonnes produced in the same period of 2018, mainly due to the strong performance of Los Bronces and Collahuasi mines...Read More
Aluminium producer Alcoa reported a net loss of $402 million in its 2019 second quarter results on Wednesday July 17. A majority of the net loss stems from its $319 million special item divestiture of Alcoa's 25.1% stake in the Ma'aden Rolling Co in Saudi Arabia. The company incurred an additional loss of $81 million in other special items as well. "We successfully divested our minority inter...Read More
A tentative bottom to ferrous scrap prices in the United States and a steadying in hot-rolled coil, combined with mill product hikes, led to a widening in the spread between the two products this month.Fastmarkets' steel scrap No1 busheling index, delivered Midwest mill, settled at $275.27 per gross ton on Wednesday July 10, the fourth consecutive monthly decline and off from $281.7...Read More
Steel reinforcing bar prices in the United States have fallen to pre-Section 232 levels, with import prices also declining due to fresh offers from Europe. Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel rebar, fob mill US, widened downward to $31.50-32.50 per hundredweight ($630-650 per short ton) on Wednesday July 17 from $32-32.50 per cwt two weeks earlier, with the price also down by 9.9% fr...Read More
The rebar and wire rod prices in Turkey's domestic markets have softened over the past week due to sluggish demand in the slow summer period, sources said on Thursday July 18.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Turkey, was TRY3,070-3,100 ($538-544) per tonne on Thursday, including 18% VAT, down from last week's TRY3,100-3,130 per tonne.The prices w...Read More
Turkish long steel export prices have gone down slightly over the past week in line with the limited demand for the materials, sources said on Thursday July 18.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) export, fob main port Turkey, was $450-460 per tonne on an actual weight basis on July 18, down from last week's $455-465 per tonne.The mills in Turkey have generally re...Read More
The price of steel billet imported into Egypt decreased in the week to Thursday July 18 because of lower offers and bids, while demand remained poor because of uncertainty about the application of import duties."Offer prices have fallen but there are no bookings because of the uncertainty about safeguard duties," a local market source told Fastmarkets.In April, Egypt imposed a temporary additional...Read More
The export price for CIS-origin steel billet has tumbled with several new bookings done at lower prices, Fastmarkets heard on Thursday July 18.Fastmarkets' daily steel billet index, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $420 per tonne on July 18, down from $425 per tonne the day before. The price was in the range of $422-423 per...Read More