Pessimism remained in the seaborne coking coal market despite cfr China prices regaining some losses on Friday June 28.A Capesize cargo of premium low-vol hard coking coal, scheduled for loading over July 5-15, was sold to a southern Chinese steelmaker at $197 per tonne cfr China during the day, a source at the mill said."I would still think that the price floor has yet to be reached. But we have...Read More
Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange maintained weekly gains of around 5% at the close of trading on Friday June 28, closing at $12,690 per tonne while turnover was moderately light with some 8,800 lots of nickel exchanged by the close.The metal's three-month price began the week trading just above the $12,000-per-tonne support level, after trading below that mark the week prior...Read More
The UK light iron inter-merchant spot market has been relatively stable amid some widening in price assessments while suppliers and consumers jockey for position in their estimates for the outcome of July monthly settlement talks due to start next week, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday June 28.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for UK grade-5C ferrous scrap on an inter-merchant basis was ?80-...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Unionized workers at Codelco's Chuquicamata copper mining and smelting complex in Chile have accepted the company's offer of a new labor contract, union officials said in the early hours of Thursday June 27.The agreement ends a strike that had started on June 14 at Chuquicamata, the world's largest open-pit copper mine.Employees were reintegrated during the morning of June 28, the unions added.Chi...Read More
June blister copper refining charges (RC) have dropped below the annual benchmark level on tighter spot supply following Konkola Copper Mine's (KCM) output halt as well as a rising demand due to scrap shortages. Fastmarkets' monthly RC for 98-99% blister copper fell by $10 to $150-160 per tonne on a cif China basis on Friday June 28, the lowest since the price was launched in February 2018. T...Read More
Nickel stocks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose to 20,464 tonnes as of Friday, up by 3,208 tonnes or 19% from last Friday, according to the SHFE's latest inventory report. The largest inflow of nickel this week was registered at Zhongchu Dachang in Shanghai, with 2,164 tonnes of the metal entering the warehouse. An increased number of orders for nickel could have resulted from expectations of...Read More
Nyrstar has confirmed that its lead smelter at Port Pirie, Australia, will now resume operations in the second week of July, extending its previous estimates of a late June restart, Fastmarkets learned on June 28. The Belgium-based company declared force majeure on contracts to supply lead from the Port Pirie smelter on June 10 due to an unplanned stoppage, while the facility has been offline sinc...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange held onto Thursday's 2% gains during morning trading on Friday June 28, while market participants await developments in the global economic landscape from the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. The nickel price was recently at $12,690 per tonne. The benchmark three-month price continues to trade above $12,600 per tonne amid a continued drawdown in...Read More
Latin American crude steel production reached 5.18 million tonnes in May, falling by 1.40% from 5.25 million tonnes a year before, regional association Alacero said on Thursday June 27.Rolled steel output totaled 4.36 million tonnes during the month, the data showed. Volumes were down by 5% in comparison with 4.59 million tonnes in the same period of 2018."Industry numbers in Latin America reflect...Read More
Prices for cold-rolled coil and coated steel in the United States stabilized in the week to Thursday June 27, after a slew of mill price increases were announced earlier the week. Fastmarkets AMM's weekly assessment for domestic cold-rolled coil stood at $35 per hundredweight ($700 per short ton) on June 27, unchanged from one week earlier.Fastmarkets assessed the domestic hot-dipped galvanized st...Read More
Steel billet producers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) increased export offers over the week to June 28 on reduced availability of July-rolling volumes in the market as well as improved sentiment in the raw materials segment, particularly scrap.Buyers were in no hurry to accept the increase, with buying activity limited in most of the major outlets, including North Africa, Gulf Co-...Read More
Coated flat steel prices in Turkey decreased over the week ended on Friday June 28, with demand reportedly weak in both the local and export markets.Export demand had initially improved after the United States decided on May 17 to reduce its tariffs on Turkish steel imports to 25% from 50%, but then declined again because of Turkish producers' high prices.Domestic pricesDemand in the country's loc...Read More
Hot-rolled and cold-rolled coil prices in Turkey moved down over the past week due to the summer slowdown and reduced end-user consumption, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday June 28.Domestic pricesFastmarkets' weekly price assessment for Turkish domestic HRC was $500-510 per tonne ex-works on Friday, compared with $500-520 per tonne ex-works a week earlier.Turkish mills have been offering th...Read More
Domestic rebar prices in Poland have been largely unchanged over the past week supported by good demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday June 28.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic 12mm B500B-grade rebar in Poland was 2,000-2,100 zloty ($534-561) per tonne ex-works on June 28, compared with 2,000-2,110 zloty per tonne ex-works a week earlier.The assessment reflects the deals...Read More
Demand for steel billet in the Philippines remained weak during the country's rainy season due to a slowdown in construction activity, although demand from Indonesia was expected to recover after the country's election results were finalized.The rainy season continued to dampen demand for steel billet amid continued weakness in the domestic steel markets, a trader in the Philippines said. The Phil...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil exporters capitalized on higher prices on Friday June 28 amid stability in the domestic market.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,920-3,940 yuan ($570-573) per tonne, narrowing from 3,900-3,950 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,850-3,860 yuan per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneTrading activity picked up a bit in Shanghai after prices fell a bit from the high end compar...Read More
The price of shredded ferrous scrap imported into India decreased for the fifth consecutive week, however many market participants were optimistic that prices had reached their lowest and a recovery was imminent, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday June 28.Fastmarkets' weekly index for containerized imports of shredded scrap into India went down to $308.88 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva on Friday, from...Read More
Turkish steel producers returned to the deep-sea scrap market for August shipment cargoes at the end of the week, accepting higher prices, sources said on Friday June 28.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a UK cargo, comprising 22,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $293 per tonne, 15,000 tonnes of shredded at $298 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of bonus scrap at $303 per tonne cfr on...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices were steady on Friday June 28, with only minimal price moves compared with Thursday's activity, but interest in the Singapore Exchange's (SGX) 65% Fe iron ore derivative contract remained strong.By 6:30pm Singapore time, 205,000 tonnes had been traded and cleared on the contract, according to SGX data. This compares with 143,000 tonnes traded the previous day.MB...Read More