European distributors of flat steel products reported a 4.5% year-on-year drop in shipment volumes in the first quarter of 2019, Eurometal said on Monday May 20."Shipments continued their negative trend of late last year and this was accompanied by rising stocks," the regional federation for steel, tube and metals distribution and trade said.European steelmakers such as Germany's ThyssenKrupp have...Read More
CIS export rebar and wire rod markets were quiet in the week ended Monday May 20 with most buyers and sellers taking a wait-and-see approach seeking more clarity from Turkey, which finally achieved a reduction to the US import duty to 25% last week. Recent offers of rebar from Ukraine were heard within the range of $460-475 per tonne fob Black Sea, depending on destination. No bookings were report...Read More
The United Arab Emirates' biggest steel producer, Emirates Steel, has been giving discounts on its rebar price of as much as 126 dirhams ($34) per tonne ex-works on June orders, Fastmarkets learnt on Monday May 20.The conpany was accepting orders at 1,881 dirhams ($512) per tonne ex-works, but its list price was 2,007 dirhams per tonne ex-works, unchanged since early February. Fastmarkets'...Read More
Turkish domestic scrap prices have gone down amid stronger supply and softer demand over the past week, sources said on Monday May 20.Three steel mills reduced their buy prices for local shipbreaking scrap to $292 per tonne, while a fourth cut its price to $290 per tonne delivered.As a result, Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for Turkish domestic melting scrap from shipbreaking fell to $290-29...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea scrap market became quiet again at the beginning of the week with suppliers withdrawing their offers, after news was heard of the removal of an additional US import tariff on steel imports from Turkey, sources said on Monday May 20.The United States lowered its tariff on steel imports from Turkey to 25%, from the previous 50%, with effect from May 17.This essentially removed t...Read More
Seaborne iron ore pellet and concentrate prices picked up moderately in the week to Friday May 17 as the iron ore market generally strengthened.PelletsThe weekly Fastmarkets MB 65% Fe Blast Furnace Pellet Index was at $129.93 per tonne cfr China last Friday May 17, up by $1.35 per tonne from a week earlier.Deals for Indian 64% Fe Rashmi pellet were heard at $121.50-123 per tonne cfr, although...Read More
Prices for slab exported from the Commonwealth of Independent States have continued to decline in the second half of May while producers have had to make concessions in new bookings with customers in Europe and Asia amid unfavorable conditions in their finished flat-steel outlets.Fastmarkets' weekly CIS export slab price assessment narrowed down to $450-455 per tonne fob Black Sea on Monday May 20...Read More
The mood in the CIS export billet market turned positive at the start of the week that began on Monday May 20, with most producers having almost filled their June order books in recent weeks.Import scrap prices in Turkey rebounded at the end of last week, supported by a reduction in the duty imposed on imports of Turkish steel into the United States to 25% from 50%.Although CIS...Read More
China's rebar export prices decreased on Monday May 20 on the depreciation of the yuan, while domestic prices moved down on softer demand.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 4,000-4,040 yuan ($578-584) per tonne, down 20-30 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,940-4,000 yuan per tonne, down 20 yuan per tonneRebar futures fluctuated wildly over the day, which pushed down buying i...Read More
Ferro-vanadium prices continued to fall globally last week amid weakening demand, with vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) prices in Europe and China following the move downward. Chinese ferro-vanadium export price drops more than 18% amid weakening domestic market. European ferro-vanadium, V2O5 prices fall again on weak demand; hit lowest level since October 2017. US market edges down under pres...Read More
The German federal government is planning to invest "billions of euros" to improve inland waterway transport in a move welcomed by German steel federation WV Stahl."It is a real step [forward] for the federal government to focus on strengthening inland waterway vessel transport," WV Stahl president Hans J? 1/4 rgen Kerkhoff said on Monday May 20, noting that around one-fifth of the transport volum...Read More
The German federal government is planning to invest "billions of euros" to improve inland waterway transport in a move welcomed by German steel federation WV Stahl."It is a real step [forward] for the federal government to focus on strengthening inland waterway vessel transport," WV Stahl president Hans J? 1/4 rgen Kerkhoff said on Monday May 20, noting that around one-fifth of the transport volum...Read More
European distributors of flat steel products reported a 4.5% year-on-year drop in shipment volumes in the first quarter of 2019, Eurometal said on Monday May 20."Shipments continued their negative trend of late last year and this was accompanied by rising stocks," the regional federation for steel, tube and metals distribution and trade said.European steelmakers such as Germany's ThyssenKrupp have...Read More
Turkish domestic scrap prices have gone down amid stronger supply and softer demand over the past week, sources said on Monday May 20.Three steel mills reduced their buy prices for local shipbreaking scrap to $292 per tonne, while a fourth cut its price to $290 per tonne delivered.As a result, Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for Turkish domestic melting scrap from shipbreaking fell to $290-29...Read More
Aluminium's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange dropped by nearly 2% at the close of trading on Monday May 20, falling below its nearby $1,800 per tonne support level on the news that Norsk Hydro's Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil has been allowed to resume full operations. Brazilian authorities ended the final production embargo on the facility earlier this afternoon and Alunor...Read More
Norsk Hydro's Alunorte alumina refinery will ramp up to full production capacity after the federal court in Belem, Brazil, ended the final production embargo on the facility under the criminal lawsuit on Monday May 20. The court removed a production embargo under a civil lawsuit on Wednesday May 15, as Fastmarkets reported last week. The refinery has been running at 50% capacity since March 2...Read More
The market for flat steel products in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow was stable at the start of this week, with price movement depending on trends in the export market, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday May 20.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for Russia-origin 4mm hot-rolled (HR) sheet was unchanged on May 20 at 43,000-44,500 roubles ($664-687) per tonne cpt Moscow, including...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday May 20 that are worth another look.Massive amounts of scrap metal are being held at Malaysian ports for unprecedented inspections and multiple copper cargoes still at sea are being diverted to other Asian countries at big discounts, sources told Fastmarkets. The German federal government is planning to invest "billions of eu...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has decided on a dispute over when the load-in, load-out (LILO) rule should have been activated, ruling in favor of warehouse company Istim. People familiar with the situation said that the warehousing firm had been found to have acted vigorously and without delay in its dealings with Glencore at its warehouses in Port Klang, Malaysia, following large cancellations of alu...Read More
Aluminium's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange dropped by nearly 2% at the close of trading on Monday May 20, falling below its nearby $1,800 per tonne support level on the news that Norsk Hydro's Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil has been allowed to resume full operations. Brazilian authorities ended the final production embargo on the facility earlier this afternoon and Alunor...Read More