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
The export price for pig iron from Brazil has improved because of the long lead times for the material, Fastmarkets learnt during the week ended Friday March 29.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for pig iron exports from the southeastern Minas Gerais region of the country was $343 per tonne fob on March 29, up from $335-340 per tonne a week before.One deal for 50,000 tonnes of pig iron with 0.1...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
CIS billet prices started to decline in the last week of March, with the market under pressure from lower customers' bids, falling scrap prices in Turkey, and growing competition from Turkish billet suppliers because of the lira weakening against the US dollar.Indications of offers were coming within the range of $450-460 per tonne fob Black Sea, Fastmarkets heard on Friday March 29. A Ukraine-bas...Read More
Export prices for steel slab products of Brazilian origin remained unchanged in the week ended Friday March 29, on a flat steel market in the United States and weak demand in Europe.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment of Brazilian slab export prices was $510-550 per tonne fob on Friday, stable week-on-week.Bookings were reported from Brazil to the US market at prices of at least $540 per tonne fob, sou...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
Stainless steel transaction prices in Europe increased in the week ended Friday March 29 while mills continued to incrementally apply higher alloy surcharges to their sales prices.This week, many mills announced alloy surcharges for a range of stainless steel products for April, at levels increased from those in March. This was the second consecutive such increase.The increases were largely a reac...Read More
Import prices for steel billet in Southeast Asia held steady on Friday March 29 amid limited trading, although prices on a week-on-week basis inched down due to deteriorating demand in the region.Fastmarkets' daily import price assessment for billet in Southeast Asia was $480-490 per tonne cfr Manila on Friday, unchanged from the previous day but down by $5 per tonne from a week earlier.Deals invo...Read More
Vale expects the various production restrictions that emerged in the last couple of months to affect its iron ore pellet output by 11 million tonnes per year, its chief financial officer Luciano Siani says.The Brazilian miner - the world's largest iron ore producer - has halted the pelletizing units at its F??brica and Vargem Grande iron ore facilities in the country's southeastern Minas Gerais st...Read More
Brazil's Vale has adopted the Fastmarkets MB 65% Fe Iron Ore Index as the reference for the pricing of contract cargoes of its blast furnace and direct-reduction pellets in 2019."The [Fastmarkets MB 65% Fe Iron Ore Index] is the new reference index and the premiums for blast furnace and direct-reduction pellets remained the same as [that in] 2018 - $60 per tonne on average," the miner said on Thur...Read More
The implementation of tariffs and quotas against US steel and aluminium imports has been heralded and criticized as an unusual trade remedy, with President Donald Trump's administration applying blanket duties rather than more focused - and more typical - anti-dumping and countervailing margins.Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, a cold-war era law, allows the president to place restri...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.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
The export price for pig iron from Brazil has improved because of the long lead times for the material, Fastmarkets learnt during the week ended Friday March 29.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for pig iron exports from the southeastern Minas Gerais region of the country was $343 per tonne fob on March 29, up from $335-340 per tonne a week before.One deal for 50,000 tonnes of pig iron with 0.1...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
When the London Metal Exchange amended its policies related to its physical delivery network a few years ago, it overlooked one key thing. The issue centers on LME's linked load-in/load-out (LILO) rule, which operates by linking the amount of metal a warehouse loads in to the amount it is obligated to load out for warehouses that have queues of over 50 days.The rule changes were part of package of...Read More
Ahead of Fastmarkets' Battery Materials 2019 conference in Shanghai, Fastmarkets looks at use of lithium in next-generation vehicles and other battery uses, as well as soaring prices, which have spurred interest in lithium and boosted its importance in recent years as a battery material. In June 2016, the spot price in China peaked at $27 per kg, more than three times the global contract price, ac...Read More
In contrast to the clear skies outside, a cloud hung over discussions among Indian scrap traders attending the opening session of the annual conference of the Material Recycling Association of India (MRAI) earlier this month in Kochi, southern India.Secretary-general Amar Singh praised the superior air quality in the host city, compared with the metropolises of New Delhi and Mumbai. But delegates...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has announced new warehouse reform proposals - the friendliest to warehousers in seven years - that aim to make LME warehousing attractive again and encourage more metal onto the exchange.In a discussion paper sent to members on Friday March 29, the exchange proposed relaxing queue-based rent capping (QBRC) to 80 days, lower rent and Free On Truck (FOT) fees, as well as m...Read More
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