Zinc's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange ticked higher during morning trading on Friday April 26, making headway back towards $2,800 per tonne and shrugging off fresh inflows of just under 4,000 tonnes into European locations.This month, more than 30,000 tonnes of zinc have been delivered into LME-registered warehouses, with over 20,000 tonnes sent to European warehouses in Rotterdam,...Read More
Generally London Metal Exchange prices have been weak in recent days and the strong dollar has been a factor in that, but dip-buying appears to be providing support in morning trading on Friday April 26. Asian equities generally weaker this morning Dollar index extends gains Market waiting for US GDP data Base metals Base metals prices on the LME were for the most part firmer across the...Read More
Only nickel prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange managed to make significant headway during morning trading on Friday April 26, with the rest of the complex struggling against a firm US dollar.The most-traded June nickel contract on the SHFE stood at 98,350 yuan ($14,594) per tonne as at 10.22am Shanghai time on Friday, up by 0.7% or 650 yuan per tonne from Thursday's close of 97,700 yuan per t...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
The following Fastmarkets minor metals prices changed on Friday April 26:Minor metals Bismuth MB China domestic, yuan/tonne: 46,000-47,000 yuan per tonne from 46,800-47,800 yuanCadmium MB free market min 99.99%, cents/lb: 135-143 per lb from 137-143Chromium MB free market alumino-thermic, $/tonne: $8,200-8,700 per...Read More
An overview of the Chinese minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
Swedish steel trader BE Group believes that the second quarter of 2019 will be positive for the company's principal markets, it said on Thursday April 25."Demand in the next quarter is expected to remain strong in the company's main markets," president and chief executive officer Anders Martinsson said."Steel prices are expected to stay at the same level as in the first quarter, and the prices of...Read More
Monthly European alloy surcharges for stainless steel products have increased for May due to the euro's weak position against the dollar, Fastmarkets heard on Friday April 26.The May surcharge for grade-304 cold-rolled (CR) stainless sheet has increased to ?,?1,410-1,450 ($1,571-1,616) per tonne, a gain of ?,?20-23 per tonne from April levels, according to data released by Outokumpu, Acerinox and...Read More
China's leading stainless steel mills - Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Tisco), Tsingshan Group and Baosteel - have released their May tender prices for high-carbon ferro-chrome this week, which are 50 and 200 yuan ($7.40 and 29.70) per tonne lower month on month. Tisco announced its May tender price for high-carbon ferro-chrome at 6,900 yuan per tonne on Wednesday April 24, a drop of 50 yuan per tonne from...Read More
The price of alloy steel scrap in Europe and the UK have decreased this week following lower nickel and ferrous scrap prices. The London Metal Exchange nickel price was the main driver behind the decline, having fallen to $12,345-12,350 per tonne on April 26 from $12,690-12,700 per tonne on April 18. Austenitic alloy scrap prices, for which nickel values are the most significant influence, reacted...Read More
The following Fastmarkets non-ferrous European free market scrap prices changed on Friday April 26:Aluminium scrapFloated Frag: ?,?1,030-1,065 per tonne from ?,?1,030-1,075Cast: ?,?930-950 per...Read More
Vietnamese buyers have shifted their purchasing focus to Japanese H2 ferrous scrap in light of falling prices in the domestic Japan markets.However, prices in Taiwan rebounded on the back of firmer prices from key supplier the United States.Some market participants think that ferrous scrap prices have reached the bottom and will rebound soon, although others feel that more price falls will come du...Read More
Tata Steel aims to produce 32 million tonnes per year of crude steel at its Indian operations by 2025, the company said.The 2025 capacity target in India would constitute the entirety of the steelmakers' global crude capacity following the planned divestment of operations in Asia and a planned joint venture of European flat steel operations with Germany's ThyssenKrupp.Of the Indian steelmaker's cu...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close of trading on Thursday April 25, with the upward price action capped by broad strength in the US dollar index, while fresh cancelations fail to galvanize lackluster price action. Copper's three-month price fell to a low of $6,355 per tonne over the afternoon, its lowest price since March 27 amid an uptick in the US doll...Read More
Comex copper prices failed to maintain the previous day's gains amid a surging dollar on Thursday April 25, which is putting downward pressure on most of the base metals prices. The copper price for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange tumbled 3.8 cents to $2.8720 per lb. The red metal has been unable to set a clear price direction over the past few weeks, with...Read More
A summary of Nornickel's production results for the first quarter of 2019 between January and March.IN BRIEF: First-quarter copper production for 2019 was up 13% year on year to 127,000 tonnes as a result of a production ramp-up at the Bystrinsky (Chita Copper) Project in Chita, Sibera.2019 first-quarter nickel production exceeded that of 2018...Read More
Australia-based King Island Scheelite has signed an offtake agreement for tungsten concentrate with Austrian producer of refined tungsten Wolfram Bergbau und Hutten AG (WBH), it announced this month. The offtake agreement is for the delivery of 140,000 metric tonne units (mtu) of tungsten trioxide in concentrate, or 1,400 tonnes of tungsten trioxide over a four-year period. This equates to the exp...Read More
Falling UG2 chrome ore prices in April have been partly caused by ferro-chrome smelters in China selling their raw material back to the market, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' UG2 chrome ore index, cif China, has dropped every week so far in April and stands at $169 per tonne as of Tuesday April 23, down from $186 per tonne on March 29. The smelters are understood to have bought too much ma...Read More
OM Manganese will spend as much as A$7.3 million ($5.2 million) to establish a manganese ore joint venture in Western Australia with copper-gold-manganese explorer Bryah Resources.Under the agreement, OM Manganese, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Australia-listed mining and metallurgical group OM Holdings (OMH), can earn an interest in as much as 70% of the mineral rights at the Bryah Basin...Read More
Alloy-grade cobalt prices maintained their premium over standard-grade during the first half of this week amid a limited supply of cut cathode for spot market inquiries. Fastmarkets assessed the standard-grade cobalt price at $15.90-16.95 per lb, in-warehouse, on Wednesday April 24, up 1.5% from the previous week's assessment. Alloy-grade metal continued to trade at a premium but saw sli...Read More