Base metals price on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher at the close of trading on Friday March 29, with copper and zinc outperforming.Despite continued strength in the US dollar, risk appetite has improved.The three-month copper price closed almost 2% higher while volumes exceeded 20,000 lots. The metal's on-warrant stock count has recovered slightly over March after reaching its l...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has proposed an enhancement of its warehouse stock reporting model in a bid to garner further transparency against a recent tide of inordinate stock moves, it said in its latest warehousing discussion paper released on Friday March 29. In accordance with the LME's warehousing committee, the bourse has unveiled nine warehouse proposals to counter the expansion of ware...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ended Friday March 29. China China's domestic ferro-chrome spot price softened after some suppliers dropped their offer prices to encourage sales after noticing that stainless steel mills were reluctant to accept prices higher than their April tender prices. The imported charge chrome...Read More
A cargo of 30,000 tonnes of Chinese-origin alumina has been sold at 2,810 yuan ($417.10) per tonne fob Yantai port to Glencore in recent days, a source familiar with the matter told Fastmarkets on Friday March 29. The price is equivalent to around 2,560 yuan per tonne ex-works, taking into account nearly 250 yuan per tonne for freight to Yantai port and other costs. This is 3.8% or 100 yuan per to...Read More
Miner MMG has declared force majeure on copper concentrate supply contracts from the Las Bambas mine in Peru.Two customers due to receive tonnages said they had been told by offtake partners they would not be receiving material as contracted. "We got...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
Global scrap prices mostly fell in the week from Monday March 25 to Friday March 29, with only prices for exports from the United States rising on steady demand from the key import market of Turkey. Turkish steel producers buy mid-week Turkish demand supports US ferrous scrap export prices Weaker downstream markets hold back Vietnam ferrous scrap prices Taiwanese prices fall on lower bids India pr...Read More
Chrome steel prices in the UK edged higher in the week ended Friday March 29 on an increase in the quarterly European ferro-chrome benchmark price, Fastmarkets has learnt.The price of steel scrap solids with a chromium content of 12-13% was assessed by Fastmarkets on March 29 at ?190-230 ( ?249-302) per tonne delivered, widening upward by ?10 per tonne. This was the first change in the assessmen...Read More
Turkish steel mills continued to remain out of the deep-sea scrap market at the end of the week due to the uncertain political situation in the country, sources said on Friday March 29.The Turkish lira was still very volatile against the US dollar because of the political instability and Turkish steel producers preferred to wait for the results of Sunday's mayoral elections before m...Read More
Positive headlines regarding continuing US-China trade talks have fueled a recovery in global risk sentiment so far on Friday March 29, subsequently providing support to three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange.Nickel and zinc led the complex higher, both up by 0.8%, while copper followed close behind with a gain of 0.7%. Lead, tin and aluminium saw more moderate increases this...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Chinese domestic lithium spot prices held in the week ended Thursday March 28 with most producers resisting consumer expectations for lower prices from the reduced value-added tax (VAT) and the latest Chinese new energy vehicles (NEVs) subsidies. Battery-grade lithium prices held steady in China this week despite consumer pressure for lower prices following Chinese policy changes, such as the VAT...Read More
Indian importers have rejected the latest offer prices for imports of hot-rolled coil (HRC), citing falling prices for the commodity in the domestic market, Fastmarkets heard on Friday March 29.Indian HRC import prices were assessed by Fastmarkets at $575-580 per tonne cfr Indian ports on March 29, compared with last week's assessment of $560-565 per tonne cfr, an increase of $15 per tonne.The lat...Read More
Prices for coated steel products in Turkey were stable in the seven days to Friday March 29, with demand weak in both the domestic and export markets.Sources told Fastmarkets that demand was weak in March because of market uncertainty ahead of the mayoral elections being held across the country on March 31.The export market was also poor because of weak demand in Europe and the fact that Turkish p...Read More
Most prices for steel coil products in Turkey were stable over the week ended Friday March 29, with buying activity remaining subdued.The market has been slow in March because of uncertainty in the build-up to Turkey's mayoral elections, to be held across the country on the last day of the month.It is unclear whether the market will improve next week, but everyone is waiting for the elections to b...Read More
The prices for US imports of steel beams has risen on confirmed sales of Mexican material while the price for domestic beams remained stable, Fastmarkets AMM has learned.Fastmarkets' assessment for imported beams is now $790-810 per short ton ($39.50-40.50 per hundredweight) delivered duty paid Port of Houston as of Thursday March 28, up 3.9 % from $740-800 per ton ($37-40 per cwt) previously. At...Read More
Ukraine's largest long steel producer, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, is currently holding cold tests of its two new continuous casting machines - also known as CCM No2 and CCM No3 - which have combined annual capacity of 2.8 million tonnes, the company told Fastmarkets on Friday March 29.The move is aimed at strengthening the steelmaker's position in the billet export market and enabling ArcelorMittal...Read More
Indian domestic secondary steel billet prices have fallen by about 100 rupees ($1) per tonne this week because there have been fewer inquiries and minimal buying by makers of finished products such as rebar mills, Fastmarkets heard on Friday March 29.Indian domestic secondary billet prices were assessed by Fastmarkets at 31,200-31,400 rupees ($450-453) per tonne ex-mill on Friday, down by 100 rupe...Read More