European apparent steel consumption will decrease by 0.4% year-on-year over the full 12 months of 2019, according to a forecast by European steel association Eurofer published on Thursday July 18.Apparent steel consumption will fall to 163 million tonnes in 2019, from 164 million tonnes a year earlier, it said. In the first quarter of the year, it declined by 2.5% year-on-year, to 42.6 million ton...Read More
China's rebar prices dipped on Friday July 19 after selling pressure picked up in the market. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,960-3,990 yuan ($576-580) per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,880-3,920 yuan per tonne, down 10-20 yuan per tonneSellers lowered their prices during the day in an attempt to secure more orders ahead of the weekend, sources said.A trader in Shan...Read More
Swedish steelmaker SSAB expects demand for heavy steel plate to remain strong in the United States during the third quarter of 2019 but sees demand for flat steel in Europe decreasing due to seasonal reasons. Shipments of steel products from SSAB's Americas division totaled 909,000 tonnes in the second quarter, down by 6.54% year on year, the steelmaker said on Friday July 19. Shipments from SSAB...Read More
Scrap prices in most global markets pushed upward in the week ended Friday July 19, in line with stronger Turkish import prices. But this excluded the Indian market, which was hurt by limited trading activity. Turkish import prices up week-on-week, bookings resume US export prices flat on East Coast, up on West Coast Asian import prices up on steady demand but upside limited Indian prices down on...Read More
Several deals for pig iron were heard in the United States at higher prices during the week ended Friday July 19, mainly due to reduced availability of material from the Commonwealth of Independent States, sources said.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US, was $360-365 per tonne on Friday, widening upward from $360 per tonne a week before.Several deals for Ukr...Read More
Export prices for Brazil-origin slab remained stable for a second consecutive week on Friday July 19, with raw materials costs still high and deals sparse amid weak demand.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab export, fob main port Brazil, $/tonne, was $420-430 on Friday July 19, unchanged from the previous week.Offers for Brazilian slab remained at $420-430 per t...Read More
Prices in Southeast Asia's steel billet market declined on July 19 because of lower offers caused by a lack of demand amid the ongoing rainy season in the region's major import market of The Philippines.Although producers lowered their offer prices, Southeast Asian buyers remained on the sidelines due to expectations that prices could fall further, market sources said. Billet from Japan...Read More
China's rebar prices dipped on Friday July 19 after selling pressure picked up in the market. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,960-3,990 yuan ($576-580) per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,880-3,920 yuan per tonne, down 10-20 yuan per tonneSellers lowered their prices during the day in an attempt to secure more orders ahead of the weekend, sources said.A trader in Shan...Read More
The price range for grade-304 flat stainless steel products in Europe narrowed upward this week, with participants anticipating an increase in the alloy surcharges for August, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday June 19.Nickel prices increased sharply over the two weeks to July 19, leading sources to predict that monthly surcharges will rise or, at the very least, not decrease as they have for the...Read More
BHP expects its Western Australia Iron Ore operations to produce 273-286 million tonnes of the steelmaking raw material on a 100% basis over the next 12 months amid a significant maintenance program at the Port of Port Hedland, from which it ships its cargoes abroad."As part of this, a major car dumper maintenance campaign is planned for the September 2019 quarter, with a corresponding impact expe...Read More
Czech steelmaker Liberty Ostrava is increasing its steel prices by ?,?20 ($23) per tonne to partially offset an increase in production costs, the company told Fastmarkets on Tuesday July 16. "Recent increases in raw materials and energy costs and the prevailing steel prices in Europe necessitate an immediate response to avoid further margin squeezes for our steel business," the company said.O...Read More
Turkish steel producers remained quiet in the deep-sea scrap markets, awaiting some signs of recovery in the finished steel sector, sources said on Tuesday July 16.The last verified scrap deal was on July 9 when a steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a UK cargo at $288 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20).Since then, Turkish steel mills have stayed away from the deep-sea markets...Read More
Swedish steelmaker SSAB expects demand for heavy steel plate to remain strong in the United States during the third quarter of 2019 but sees demand for flat steel in Europe decreasing due to seasonal reasons. Shipments of steel products from SSAB's Americas division totaled 909,000 tonnes in the second quarter, down by 6.54% year on year, the steelmaker said on Friday July 19. Shipments from SSAB...Read More
Flat-rolled steel prices mostly moved upward in South America during the week ended Friday July 19, following the persistent Chinese uptrend, but the prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) and Galvalume were unchanged.Fastmarkets' assessment of the price for steel hot-rolled coil, import, cfr main ports South America, was $540-550 per tonne on July 19, compared with $520-545 per tonne a week...Read More
Scrap prices in most global markets pushed upward in the week ended Friday July 19, in line with stronger Turkish import prices. But this excluded the Indian market, which was hurt by limited trading activity. Turkish import prices up week-on-week, bookings resume US export prices flat on East Coast, up on West Coast Asian import prices up on steady demand but upside limited Indian prices down on...Read More
Several deals for pig iron were heard in the United States at higher prices during the week ended Friday July 19, mainly due to reduced availability of material from the Commonwealth of Independent States, sources said.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US, was $360-365 per tonne on Friday, widening upward from $360 per tonne a week before.Several deals for Ukr...Read More
The dream of building a new world-class copper-gold mine in Pakistan in an area bordering Afghanistan and Iran has been dashed, for now at least. The saga of Tethyan Copper Co's (TCC) efforts to develop the Reko Diq mine found resolution last week with an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ruling in favor of TCC following a dispute that has rumbled on for years.TCC,...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has just finished its trial to calculate nickel prices using a volume weighted average price (VWAP) method on the exchange's electronic trading platform. If early indications are anything to go by, metals market participants did not embrace this method of price discovery in the way some had anticipated. For three months since Monday March 18, closing prices for nickel car...Read More
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
The zinc price has been fluctuating so much this year that analysts still cannot agree on where it is headed. Commodities researchers from major banks surveyed by Fastmarkets differed by $500 per tonne on their second-half 2019 forecast - that is 23.7% of the galvanizing metal's current value. At $2,460 per tonne at the open on Friday July 19, the LME three-month zinc contract was just $10 down fr...Read More