Brazilian miner Vale has taken preventive measures on fears of a possible rupture at its Sul Superior dam, which include the building of a containment structure and emergency training with nearby residents.The company told local authorities last week that displacement of a slope at the Gongo Soco mine pit could lead to a rupture of its Sul Superior dam, in the country's southeastern Minas Gerais s...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
Ferrous scrap trader Hoffman Iron & Steel is looking to Southeast Asia as a key area of growth for its business in the coming years, chief executive officer Philip Hoffman said in an interview with Fastmarkets MB.Increasing focus on Southeast Asia"There's a lot going on in Southeast Asia, such as expanding electric-arc furnace (EAF) and Induction Furnace (IF) capacities in Vietnam and other IF cap...Read More
Renewed selling interest on Friday May 17 has capped the upside from the slight rebound mid-last week and the metal markets generally look shaky in the early morning of Monday May 20. Our assessment of global risk sentiment remains fairly weak and highly dominated by negative macro events. The simmering US-China trade altercation continues to undermine appetite for risk assets. US President D...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed during morning trading on Monday May 20, with nickel leading the falls and only copper and lead showing positive performances.Nickel was one of the big underperformers, with the most-traded July contract declining to 97,540 yuan ($14,156) per tonne as at 9.59am Shanghai time, down by 340 yuan per tonne, or 0.3%, from Friday's close of...Read More
Demand for stainless steel in China's domestic market was steady over the past week, but trade tensions between the country and the United States are starting to show signs of weighing on prices.The Fastmarkets MB domestic price assessment for benchmark 304 stainless cold-rolled coil in the major market of Wuxi was 14,000-14,100 yuan ($2,036-2,094) per tonne including value-added tax for the week...Read More
Volker Pawlitzki has left Canadian minor metals and specialty chemicals producer 5N Plus, sources from the company have confirmed to Fastmarkets Pawlitzki joined 5N Plus in September 2017 as vice president for...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia and Europe for the week ended Friday May 17. China The Chinese domestic antimony price tumbled for the second consecutive week after some domestic producers cut their offer prices further in an attempt to generate cash to pay bank loans. Yet some domestic antimony suppliers were resistant in surrendering much on the prices further, and some we...Read More
Key data from the Friday May 17 pricing session in London. Key drivers - Cobalt prices show slight weakness over the course of the week while consumers and traders refrain from buying. Sellers lower their offers while consumers have their immediate requirements covered, so most market participants expect a moderate decline in prices over the summer. -...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia and Europe for the week ended Friday May 17. China The Chinese silicon export price moved down due to a weaker yuan, which offset price support from tight upstream material supply in northern China. According to exchange rate website Oanda.com, $1 was worth 6.91 yuan on Friday May 17 compared with 6.82 yuan a week earlier. Weak demand ab...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
European secondary aluminium prices fell to their lowest levels in 10 years on Friday May 17, attributed to softening in the European automotive sector which has continued to exert downward pressure on the market. Outright prices for European aluminium scrap grades and 226 ingot typically track the automotive sector since they are primarily consumed for automotive production. Aluminium scrap grade...Read More
Broader tensions masking still-constructive fundamentals With the US-China trade dispute escalating again and now geopolitical tensions between the US Iran rising, there is less and less appetite for risk in financial markets. Base metals continue to feel the fallout, despite plenty of signs of tightness in the fundamentals. Aluminium: Base-building amid cross currents There are many cross-current...Read More
Midwest premium to retreat after Section 232 tariffs removed from Canada and Mexico President Trump announced last week the United States has reached an agreement to remove Section 232 tariffs from Canada and Mexico. Following the removal, we believe the US Midwest premium should drop from the current elevated levels. Prior to the implementation of 232 tariff, the US Midwest premium was trading at...Read More
Aluminium LME aluminium’s May 2019 low at $1,784 per tonne remains under threat and a negative break below this level could encourage more technical selling to emerge in the short term. Its daily RSI and stochastic lines have slid lower too, threatening more downside for prices. Given its bearish technical configuration, the LME aluminium price needs to quickly regain confidence by tradi...Read More
Poor macro dynamics Although LME copper prices found some support at $6,000 per tonne last week, a break below this key level is likely imminently due to the macro negativity stemming from tense US-China relations. The re-escalation in the US-China trade and technology dispute has resulted in a confluence of macro headwinds for copper including a stronger dollar, a weaker yuan, and a reduction in...Read More
China puts tariff on concentrate imports from USA China is keeping a 10% tariff on US lead concentrates imports. Last year, China imported 71,000 tonnes of lead in lead concentrates from the US, some 10% of its total lead concentrate imports, which was down from an average of around 150,000 tonnes over the 2015-2017 period. While this is affecting the already beleaguered Chinese smelting industry,...Read More
Q1 results add to list of supportive fundamental factors We noted in our nickel analysis last week that outside of the broader macro and geopolitical issues weighing on the base metals at the moment, the nickel market’s own fundamentals are contributing to price sentiment via a combination of both positive and negative factors. The positives include strong EV sales data, environmental inspect...Read More
LME tin relatively resilient amid the US-China trade/tech dispute LME tin has proven relatively more resilient than most of the other base metals in the face of the re-escalation in the US-China trade spat earlier this month. Although tin is usually less sensitive to the macro backdrop and more responsive to its fundamental dynamics, it can occasionally have a high systemic risk, as was the case i...Read More
Trade uncertainties weigh on prices Zinc prices are retesting support below $2,600 per tonne at the start of this week after the three-month benchmark stalled Thursday at $2,646.50 per tonne. Escalating trade tensions are at the root of the weakness, with Chinese authorities announcing an increase in duties on $60 billion worth of US goods from June 1 in retaliation to higher tariffs imposed by th...Read More