An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
The copper market in the United States bounced back in trading on the morning of Friday March 15, with a softer dollar and positive data boosting the marketplace.The copper price for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose by 1.95 cents to $2.9110 per lb."While we acknowledge that copper is at present facing macro/fundamentals headwinds, we think copper will s...Read More
Base metal stocks at Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses were mostly up week on week on Friday March 15, with nickel stocks registering a 13.3% gain.Deliverable nickel stocks at SHFE-approved warehouses have risen by 1,438 tonnes or 13.3% since March 8 to 12,217 tonnes as of March 15. Over the week to Friday, warehouse company Zhongchu Dachang in Shanghai had the most inflows into its sh...Read More
In a reversal of its closing fortunes on March 14, the London Metal Exchange's three-month copper contract increased to $6,415 per tonne during morning trading on March 15, up by $11 per tonne from the $6,404-per-tonne close the previous day.A significant 44,800 tonnes of material was recorded to have arrived almost exclusively into Asian warehouses as of 9am on March 15, with global stocks of mat...Read More
Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Friday March 15*Copper -$120.98 (-815.01 yuan) Aluminium -$312.74 (-2,106.89 yuan) Zinc -$99.95 (-673.36 yuan) Nickel -$137.75 (-927.97 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE...Read More
Strong demand again drove coated steel prices higher in the United States, while the price for cold-rolled coil remained steady week on week, according to market participants.Fastmarkets AMM's weekly assessment for the domestic hot-dipped galvanized steel base price moved to $42 per hundredweight ($840 per short ton) on Thursday March 14 from $41.50 per cwt a week earlier; and the all-in price for...Read More
Slab export prices from Brazil remained unchanged this past week, although offers from the country were heard at higher levels.Fastmarkets MB's weekly assessment for Brazil-origin slab stood at $500-540 per tonne fob on Friday March 15, stable week on week.Offers from Brazil to the US market were heard close to $560 per tonne fob, but market participants were still doubtful whether...Read More
Prices for most imported flat steel in South America rose this past week, with galvanized sheet leading the uptrend as Chinese mills offered at substantially higher levels.Fastmarkets' hot-dipped galvanized coil assessment stood at $640-660 per tonne cfr on March 15 compared with $630-640 per tonne the week prior. It is the highest level since November 16, when prices were $685-700 per tonne."Chin...Read More
Fastmarkets has discontinued its weekly assessments of the Latin America rebar export price, which was reported on a dollar per tonne fob main port basis, with effect from Friday March 15.After a consultation period lasting two months, Fastmarkets has discontinued its weekly assessments after receiving feedback that there was now limited spot liquidity in the market for this material, with most vo...Read More
Fastmarkets MB is extending the consultation period to discontinue its weekly export price assessment of Latin America-origin hot-dipped galvanized coil, reported on a dollar per tonne fob main port basis.The extension is based on feedback and government data showing that producers in the region might be returning to export markets in 2019, Further investigation is also needed to verify if sp...Read More
Import tariffs on steel products in the United States created under Section 232 are likely to remain in place at least until the end of 2019, the chief executive officer of Gerdau, Gustavo Werneck, said during an event at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday March 13.The move from Donald Trump's administration boosted metal spread margins for steel producers in the US. This spread - calculated...Read More
Prices for coated steel products in Turkey decreased in the seven days to Friday March 15, with demand weak in both the domestic and export markets.Sources told Fastmarkets that demand is unlikely to improve in March because of market uncertainty ahead of the mayoral elections being held across the country on the last day of the month.The export market was also poor because of weak deman...Read More
UK prices for alloy steel scrap moved up slightly over the past week despite higher costs for nickel, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday March 15.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic UK 18/8 stainless steel scrap solids was ?840-880 ($1,113-1,266) per tonne delivered on March 15. This was up from ?830-870 per tonne delivered a week earlier, reflecting transactions heard in the...Read More
The Turkish steel mills continued to book deep-sea scrap at steady prices at the end of the current week but prices are likely to fall in the next bookings, sources said on Friday March 15.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a European cargo, comprising 13,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (75:25) at $318 per tonne, 6,000 tonnes of bonus at $331 per tonne and 6,000 tonnes of busheling at $334 per tonne cf...Read More
The price of shredded ferrous scrap continued to recover this week with prices moving up for the second consecutive week, sources said on Friday March 15.Fastmarkets MB's weekly index for containerized imports of shredded scrap into India was $335.29 per tonne cfr on March 15, up from $331.38 per tonne cfr on March 8.The recovery comes after the index had fallen by $11.11 per tonne week on week to...Read More
Domestic prices for E8 grade ferrous scrap in Italy have picked up slightly in February following the positive trend settled in the international scrap markets, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday March 15.Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for Italian grade E8 scrap was ?,?285-295 ($322-334) per tonne delivered on March 15, up compared with ?,?280-290 per tonne delivered in the previous month.T...Read More
Prices for light iron steel scrap in the United Kingdom have slipped at the top end of the current range amid steady trading, with the market buoyed by a recovery in export prices so far this month, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday March 8.The inter-merchant light iron scrap price, which dropped ?5 ($6.60) per tonne last week, has been reacting to a fall in export prices in late February, altho...Read More
The market for pig iron exports from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has strengthened on resumed sales to the United States, which is the key outlet, Fastmarkets was told on Thursday March 14.Fastmarkets' price assessment for CIS exports of high-manganese pig iron was $340-350 per tonne fob Black Sea on March 14, widening upward from $340-345 per tonne fob a week before.One deal was h...Read More
Forward cargoes of seaborne coking coal continued to fetch lower prices on Friday March 15 while those for April-laycan shipments held steady.On the Global Coal trading platform, a July-laycan cargo in the branded segment was traded at $196 per tonne fob Australia, while a bid for an April-laycan cargo in the same segment was made at $212.50 per tonne, up $0.50 per tonne from the last bid. The tra...Read More
Participants in China's rebar market reacted differently to the impending reduction of value-added tax in the country, resulting in a widening of domestic prices on Friday March 15.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,800-3,860 yuan ($565-574) per tonne, widened by 10 yuan per tonne on both ends Northern China (Beijing): 3,790-3,850 yuan per tonne, widened upward by 20 yuan per tonneChina's value-...Read More