Domestic prices for hollow steel sections in Northern and Southern Europe remained flat this week on a lack of trading, resulting from uncertainty about the region's new import quotas, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 3.Fastmarkets' domestic price assessment for commodity-size, grade-S235 square hollow sections made in Northern Europe was ?,?630-640 per tonne ($711-722) per tonne deliver...Read More
The price of mesh-quality wire rod in Europe was unchanged week on week, with market participants expecting price stability to continue into the summer holiday period, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 3.Fastmarkets' weekly domestic price assessment for mesh-quality wire rod in Northern Europe was ?,?500-510 ($564-575) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, unchanged from June 26."We expect th...Read More
Steel H-beam prices in Northern Europe fell back this week after a short-lived increase last week, despite mills being keen to push prices upward, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 3.Fastmarkets' price assessment for domestic S235-grade, 200x200mm, category-2 H-beam in Northern Europe was ?,?570-605 ($644-683) per tonne delivered on July 3, down from ?,?575-610 per tonne one week earlier....Read More
The steel mills in Turkey have continued to book deep-sea scrap cargoes for August shipments to replenish their stocks, sources said on Wednesday July 3.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a US cargo, comprising 30,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $299 per tonne, 5,000 tonnes of shredded at $304 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of bonus at $309 per tonne cfr.This compared with the...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices were down on Wednesday July 3, even as futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed higher after hitting a five-year peak a day earlier. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $124.75 per tonne cfr China, down $1.02 per tonneMB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $125.83 per tonne cfr China, down $0.41 per tonneMB 58% Fe Premium Index: $114.86 per tonne cfr China, down $0.18 per tonn...Read More
China will allow 15,000 tonnes of ferrous scrap to be imported in 2019, according to a notice seen by Fastmarkets MB this week.The China Solid Waste & Chemicals Management Center listed nine companies in Zhejiang province that have been awarded quotas to import ferrous scrap through ports in the cities of Ningbo and Shanghai. The companies, listed below, can use their quotas in the third and fourt...Read More
Fastmarkets proposes to amend several semi-finished products' price assessment specifications in response to changing market conditions.The amendments will include new payment terms, tonnages and timing.The proposed amendments will allow Fastmarkets to consider more spot liquidity within its assessments of billet prices in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Iran as well as the Iranian sla...Read More
Demand for flat steel in Turkey failed to improve in June even after the United States halved its import tariffs for Turkish steel to 25%, market participants told Fastmarkets.And local producers have now filled their order books until late August, they said on Wednesday July 3. Turkish steel prices started to rise on May 17 after US import duties of 50% introduced in August 2018 were cut to...Read More
China's leading stainless steel mills -Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Tisco), Tsingshan Group and Baosteel - have cut their July tender prices for high-carbon ferro-chrome by 450-500 ($65-72) yuan per tonne month on month on July 3.Tsingshan and Baosteel announced the month on month 450-yuan-per tonne reduction in their July tender prices for high-carbon ferro-chrome earlier in the morning on July 3, with...Read More
Domestic prices for hollow steel sections in Northern and Southern Europe remained flat this week on a lack of trading, resulting from uncertainty about the region's new import quotas, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 3.Fastmarkets' domestic price assessment for commodity-size, grade-S235 square hollow sections made in Northern Europe was ?,?630-640 per tonne ($711-722) per tonne deliver...Read More
Demand for flat steel in Turkey failed to improve in June even after the United States halved its import tariffs for Turkish steel to 25%, market participants told Fastmarkets.And local producers have now filled their order books until late August, they said on Wednesday July 3. Turkish steel prices started to rise on May 17 after US import duties of 50% introduced in August 2018 were cut to...Read More
Taiwanese and South Korean hot-rolled coil (HRC) producers, as well as major international trading companies, will likely to be hit by new US duties imposed this week on cold-rolled steel imports from Vietnam, market sources told Fastmarkets MB today.Vietnamese corrosion-resistant steel and cold-rolled coils (CRC) produced from South Korean and Taiwanese HRC substrate will face new cash...Read More
China will allow 15,000 tonnes of ferrous scrap to be imported in 2019, according to a notice seen by Fastmarkets MB this week.The China Solid Waste & Chemicals Management Center listed nine companies in Zhejiang province that have been awarded quotas to import ferrous scrap through ports in the cities of Ningbo and Shanghai. The companies, listed below, can use their quotas in the third and fourt...Read More
A spike in Chinese lithium carbonate imports in the first two months of the second quarter reflects a drop in prices that made the material more attractive to buyers.China imported 4,539 tonnes of lithium carbonate in April-May 2019, according to the most recent available figures from Chinese customs, up by 37% from 3,315 tonnes in the whole of the first quarter.The monthly average value of the im...Read More
Tin's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange climbed by more than 3% at the close of trading on Wednesday July 3, settling above the nearby $18,000-per-tonne resistance level after sliding by more than 6% at Tuesday's close. More than 600 lots of tin were traded by the close, around half of Tuesday's total volumes traded but higher than the June average of around 300 lots. Recovering...Read More
Chinese nickel premiums dipped in the week to Tuesday July 2 while the closed import arbitrage window and sufficient supply of material in the region dampened physical appetite for the metal and European and United States' premiums continued to trade flat on holiday season illiquidity. Arbitrage loss in China sends both nickel premiums down European premiums trade flat amid summer season illiquidi...Read More
Fastmarkets proposes to amend several semi-finished products' price assessment specifications in response to changing market conditions.The amendments will include new payment terms, tonnages and timing.The proposed amendments will allow Fastmarkets to consider more spot liquidity within its assessments of billet prices in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Iran as well as the Iranian sla...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday July 3 that are worth another look.China will allow nine companies to import ferrous scrap in 2019, according to a notice seen by Fastmarkets MB this week. Turkish authorities are considering whether to launch a trade defense case against imports of hot-rolled coil from the European Union, market sources&nb...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