Export prices for pig iron from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) increased on reduced availability, sources told Fastmarkets this week.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for CIS high-manganese pig iron exports, fob main port Black Sea was $335-340 per tonne on Thursday July 11, up from $325-335 per tonne a week earlier."[Ukraine's] Metinvest cut availability due to lack of...Read More
The CIS export billet market started to show signs of weakening on Friday July 12, with customers growing cautious after the recent drop in scrap prices in Turkey and uncertainty over import duties in Egypt.Fastmarkets' daily CIS export billet index was $423 per tonne fob Black Sea down by $2 on Friday.In Egypt, some steel mills have appealed against last week's decision to suspend...Read More
Prices in Southeast Asia's steel billet market fell on Friday July 12 because of sluggish demand in the key import markets of Indonesia and the Philippines.The price was also pressured downward during the week by a decline in scrap prices in the bellwether Turkish market and the availability of competitively priced Japanese billet.The downturn in Japan's domestic ferrous scrap market, coupled with...Read More
A weakening of rebar futures in China on Friday July 12 led to participants withdrawing from the spot market for the long steel product, resulting in a drop in trading activity and keeping prices at a standstill for a second day. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,980-4,000 yuan ($579-582) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 3,880-3,910 yuan per tonne, unchangedTraders kept prices flat...Read More
The European stainless steel market were stable this week in typically quiet summer trading, sources said on Friday June 12. Fastmarkets' stainless steel cold-rolled sheet 2mm grade 304 transaction domestic, delivered North Europe price was ?,?2,125-2,200 ($2,393-2,478) per tonne on Friday, unchanged week on week.Demand in most of Europe remains low but Scandinavia is a major exception. One distri...Read More
New stainless steel futures that the Shanghai Futures Exchange is looking to launch by the end of 2019 could support physical trading activity and increase liquidity in the spot market, sources told Fastmarkets this week."This could increase liquidity in the spot markets because market participants can have a clearer idea of future price trends," an industry source said.SHFE chairman Jiang Yan las...Read More
Chinese steelmakers are importing billet because of the reduction in domestic supplies caused by China's environmental restrictions on blast furnace production.Billet from Turkey, Iran, Qatar, Russia and Malaysia has been sold into China, market sources said, due to open arbitrage window between domestic and international prices."About 200,000-300,000 tonnes of billet from the Middle East will mak...Read More
Flat-rolled steel import prices in South America trended in different directions in the week to Friday July 12, as the current Chinese upturn provided a tailwind while hot-rolled coil and Galvalume were influenced by discounted deals.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil import, cfr main ports South America, was $575-585 per tonne on Friday July 12, up by $5 from $570-580 per to...Read More
Movements in the ferrous scrap prices around the world were mixed in the week ended Friday July 12, with prices in Asia supported by steady demand and higher offers while prices in the United States and Turkey fell on thin spot trading activity. Turkey sees limited import trades US East Coast exporters see bearish demand Asian import prices up but downtrends possible Monsoon in India reduces spot...Read More
Import bookings of hot-rolled coil (HRC) into India have come to a standstill because of tariff uncertainties, with buyers fearing that the government may soon impose a safeguard duty on flat steel imports.Japanese and South Korean mills which regularly sell HRC to Indian importers made no fresh offers in the week ended Friday July 12 because importers are not willing to open letters of credit, ev...Read More
Fastmarkets examines hot-rolled coil and plate prices across the United States, China and the European Union, to determine what influence - if any - the two carbon steel products have on each other's pricing movements.US: Is the wider spread between HRC and plate the "new normal"?The wide spread between prices for hot-rolled coil and plate has been blamed for the fast-falling US plate market in th...Read More
The three-month price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange continued to rise on Friday July 12, being up by 2.6% day-on-day at the close of trading to $13,470 per tonne.Nickel has outperformed the other base metals to finish the week up by 7.9% to its highest recorded level since August 2018. It continues to return toward the year-to-date peak of $13,765 per tonne it set on March 6.Market partic...Read More
Eastern China's hot-rolled coil prices continued to soften on Friday July 12, with traders continuing to make concessions to boost trading activity, though producers raised their offers.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,850-3,860 yuan ($560-562) per tonne, down 10-20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,830-3,840 yuan per tonne, unchangedTransaction prices in Shanghai fell further during th...Read More
Interest for seaborne premium low-vol coking coal is picking up in China following recent price drops for such cargoes.A shipment of top-tier product scheduled for loading in August was traded at $191.50 per tonne cfr China, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday July 12.Prices for premium low-vol materials on a cfr China basis have fallen by around $6-7 per tonne since the beginning of this month. A...Read More
The three-month price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange continued to rise on Friday July 12, being up by 2.6% day-on-day at the close of trading to $13,470 per tonne.Nickel has outperformed the other base metals to finish the week up by 7.9% to its highest recorded level since August 2018. It continues to return toward the year-to-date peak of $13,765 per tonne it set on March 6.Market partic...Read More
Import pig iron prices in the United States picked up in the week ended Friday July 12 on reduced availability from the Commonwealth of Independent States, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US, was $360 per tonne on Friday, up from $350-355 per tonne a week before."There is deferred demand for pig iron in the US, while we [supplie...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
TradeCloud will launch a public round of their Switzerland-based Security Token Offering, the company said on Thursday July 11. Security Token Offerings are a fundraising channel through blockchain transactions but backed by real assets. In the case of the TradeCloud Tokens, they have utility and security features. The digital metals trading platform has set the new offering to run for three month...Read More
The three-month prices of base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange universally rose during the morning session on Friday July 12, buoyed by a slew of positive economic data released from China. China's trade balance, which tracks the monetary differential between a country's net imports and exports over a period of time, increased a significant 23% year on year to 345 billion yuan ($19.65 b...Read More
China's trade surplus with the United States in the first half of 2019 has increased as imports from the US have fallen by 25.7%, stoking fears thatPresident Trump will harden his position in trade talks with China. In his speech to Senate Banking Committee, US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell maintain a dovish stance and stated that the US economy is in a very good place but faced exte...Read More