Import prices for stainless steel in East Asia fell slightly over the past week with buyers taking a wait-and-see approach amid expectations that nickel prices would fall further, market sources said. Despite floods in Indonesia that could result in potential supply disruptions, the outlook for nickel remains negative due to sustained trade tensions between China and the United States.Indonesia pr...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange exhibited mixed moves but were largely little changed during morning trading on Thursday June 13 while uncertainty surrounding the US-China trade war persists.Copper and tin were down by 0.3% and 0.1% respectively while the rest were up between 0.1% for zinc and 0.9% for nickel. The divergent moves come while market participants digest trade deve...Read More
Vietnam's tungsten miner Masan Resources has hired former Amalgamated Metals Corporation (AMC) trader William Parry-Jones, the company told Fastmarkets on Thursday June 13.Parry-Jones has joined the company this month as its manager for tungsten raw materials and has relocated to Hanoi from London after almost eight...Read More
An increasing number of cobalt sulfate producers in China have cut, or are planning to cut, output in response to falling battery raw materials prices amid stagnant demand, market sources told Fastmarkets MB.In addition, some producers have switched to producing other chemistry compounds, including cobalt chloride and nickel sulfate, sources added. But market participants have mostly downplayed th...Read More
Italian flat stainless steelmaker Acciai Speciali Terni (AST) plans to increase its annual crude steel output to 1 million tonnes per year, up from 940,000 tpy, Italian steel trade union Fim-Cisl said on Thursday June 13.The AST announcement was part of a new two-year industrial plan, agreed between the mill and Italian trade unions. As part of the plan, AST will invest ?,?60 million ($68 million)...Read More
Domestic stainless steel prices in China ticked up over the past week on gains in nickel futures, but participants still maintain a bearish outlook toward the market for the next few weeks.The Fastmarkets MB domestic price assessment for benchmark 304 stainless cold-rolled coil in the major market of Wuxi was 13,900-14,300 yuan ($2,009-2,067) per tonne including value-added tax for the week ended...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed so far on Friday June 14, reflecting deteriorating sentiment in broader risk markets amid the recent uptick in tensions in the Middle East and while global trade tensions overhang.Military officials from the United States have released a video of what they say shows Iran's Revolutionary Guard removing an unexploded limpet mine...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 7 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures responded to news that May industrial production in China increased less than consensus.Equity index futures were virtually unchanged following release of May Retail Sales at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was an increase of 0.6% versus an upwardly revised gain of 0.3% in April. Ac...Read More
A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday June 12.Please click...Read More
The lead market in the United States is set to tighten due to the impact of Nyrstar declaring force majeure on lead supply contracts from its Port Pirie smelter in Australia, although US lead premiums are steady for now.In Shanghai, zinc premiums continued to fall due to low demand. European zinc premiums remained moribund despite mass cancellation of special high grade zinc ingots from local LME...Read More
Zinc's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange stayed above $2,500 per tonne at the close of trading on Wednesday June 12, with the moderate volumes traded indicating continued buying interest despite the cash/three-month spread being in a sizeable backwardation.The galvanizing metal showed a little more than 8,000 lots exchanged by the close, with total volumes valued at around $100 millio...Read More
Chilean state-owned copper producer Codelco significantly improved its rate of production during April, with copper output falling by just 6.4% compared with the same month of last year, data from the country's copper commission, Cochilco, showed on Monday June 10.Codelco produced 129,700 tonnes of copper in April, compared with 138,600 tonnes in the same month a year earlier. In March, the compan...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
Key data from the Wednesday June 12 pricing session in Europe.Key drivers- The European ferro-titanium price fell for the third consecutive week after six weeks of stability. - Demand has quietened after an initial bout of short-covering from mid-April when major European producer FE Mottram announced a production stoppage after a fire damaged its plant in the...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday June 12 pricing session in Europe.Key drivers- The European ferro-titanium price fell for the third consecutive week after six weeks of stability. - Demand has quietened after an initial bout of short-covering from mid-April when major European producer FE Mottram announced a production stoppage after a fire damaged its plant in the...Read More
Turkish steel mills booked more cargoes as they looked to take advantage of falling prices, sources said on Wednesday June 12.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Canada-origin cargo, comprising 10,000 tonnes of shredded or HMS 1&2 (95:5), 8,000 tonnes of rail and 12,000 tonnes of plate and structural (P&S) at an average price of $305...Read More
Risk sentiment was borderline negative on the morning of Wednesday June 12 after the possibility of US President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping meeting later this month at the Group of Twenty (G20) Summit in Japan was dubbed extremely unlikely.Trump threatened more tariffs on Chinese imports if there is not enough progress on trade negotiations with China or if the meeting with President Xi d...Read More
The flexibility to either produce lithium carbonate or hydroxide is essential to surviving in the lithium industry in the coming years, market participants said at Fastmarkets' 11th Lithium Supply and Markets Conference in Santiago, Chile, on Tuesday June 11.With lithium hydroxide continuing to grow in market share globally, participants expect the material to overtake lithium carbonate as the pre...Read More
Turkish pipe export prices have gone down slightly because of imminent seasonal holiday absences and the start of a new import quota period in Europe, sources said on Wednesday June 12.Fastmarkets' monthly export price assessment for Turkey-origin EN10219-standard, grade-S235 tube, with 2mm wall thickness, fell to $560-580 per tonne fob on June 12, from $570-590 per tonne on May 8.Pipe mills in Tu...Read More
Arvedi Group has warned that it expects 2019 to be a "difficult year" on a number of factors, including a struggling economy, high imports and the effects of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions quotas on energy costs, president Giovanni Arvedi said.Imports of hot-rolled coil, a key Arvedi product, to Italy increased by 54% in the first four months of 2019 compared with the same period in 2018, the Ital...Read More