The Zambian Revenue Authority (ZRA) is now awaiting further instructions from the government on the implementation of the new sales tax, while industry sources are raising doubts on the likelihood of a April 1 launch date citing lack of infrastructure support for the nationwide measure. The ZRA had targeted a launch date for its sales tax of April 1, 2019, it told Fastmarkets in an emailed stateme...Read More
Sluggish demand from domestic aluminium smelters in China, along with the VAT cut from 16% to 13% on April 1, led to a further drop in alumina prices this week.Fastmarkets' price assessment for Chinese free market Metallurgical grade alumina, delivered duty paid, was 2,680-2,700 yuan ($400-403) per tonne on Thursday March 21, down from 2,690-2,710 yuan per tonne a week ago. The...Read More
Comex copper prices sprang upward in morning trading on Thursday March 21 amid a dovish tone from the Federal Reserve, easing speculation of a near-term rate hike. The copper price for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 0.65 cents to $2.9275 per lb. As anticipated by the overall marketplace, the US Fed decided not to lift rates and signaled that they ex...Read More
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has lifted a ban on the export of cobalt and copper concentrates imposed in February but maintained the threat of its future enforcement. In a letter to the National Federation of Enterprises (FEC) seen by Fastmarkets and dated March 20, Minister of Mines Henri Yav Mulang said the government will review every six months whether to reimpose the ban. "I would l...Read More
Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Thursday March 21* Copper -$159.94 (-1,070.61 yuan) Aluminium -$299.04 (-2,001.68 yuan) Zinc -$200.4 (-1,339.65 yuan) Nickel -$273.72 (-1,832.21 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE...Read More
In the United States flat-rolled steel market, prices for imported material remain too close to those for domestic products to make offshore buys attractive, market participants told Fastmarkets AMM.The gap between domestic and foreign prices might appear to make offshore deals compelling at first glance - but not once widespread discounts to mill list prices are taken into account, sources e...Read More
Turkish rebar and wire rod export prices remained stable over the past week with sluggish demand for rebar in the country's export markets, sources said on Thursday March 21.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for rebar exports out of Turkey was $490-500 per tonne fob on actual weight basis on March 21, unchanged week on week. Turkish steel producers have continued to offer material at around $50...Read More
Domestic rebar and wire rod prices in Turkey have inched up in line with the weakening lira over the past seven days, while demand was still slow, sources said on Thursday March 21.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar was TRY3,200-3,263 ($586-597) per tonne ex-works, including 18% VAT, slightly up from the TRY3,180-3,215 per tonne of last week.The domestic rebar price in the Izm...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil market edged up further on Thursday March 21 even though trading activity has started to decline, while export prices are expecting to weaken on inactivity.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,870-3,890 yuan ($577-580) per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,830-3,850 yuan per tonne, up 20 yuan per tonneDemand for HRC sold at the existing 16% valu...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, hot-dipped galvanized coil, pre-painted galvanized iron, steel plate, steel sheet and other flat steel products. Latest transaction: hot-rolled coilHot-rolled coilEast China, domestic, commercial-grade...Read More
Physical iron ore markets on Thursday March 21 were relatively unfazed by news of potentially more supply disruptions from Vale's Brazilian operations and from cyclone-hit Australia. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $84.49 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $0.19 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $83.61 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $0.19 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $86.64 per tonne...Read More
Pessimistic sentiment persisted among the Chinese segment of the seaborne coking coal market on Thursday March 21 despite largely stable prices.A March-loading cargo of second-tier hard coking coal was sold at $193 per tonne cfr China to an end user in southern China, several sources told Fastmarkets.On the Global Coal trading platform, a June-laycan cargo in the branded segment changed hands at $...Read More
Brazil's Vale has issued a warning over another potential iron ore production impact of as much as 10 million tonnes per year due to the suspension of operations at its Alegria mine in Minas Gerais state.The mine was suspended "on a preventive basis", because the results of a preliminary analysis of its structures were inconclusive under stress conditions, and as such, were unable to confirm its s...Read More
The use of Fastmarkets MB's iron ore indices in physical contracts continues to widen, with several market participants confirming in recent weeks that they have settled 2019 term contracts using the Fastmarkets MB 65% Fe iron ore index as the base.The moves follow the announcement from Brazilian producer Vale late last year that it was switching its pellet contracts for this year to a 65% Fe...Read More
Copper's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was up by more than 1% during morning trading on Thursday March 21, trading back above $6,500 per tonne amid weakness in the dollar index after the US Federal Reserve pledged to hold interest rates for the remainder of the year. With copper volumes leading the complex at just under 7,000 lots traded by 9:38am London time, buying interest in t...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed this morning, Thursday March 21, while the market digested the messages from last night's US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.The FOMC proved to be even more dovish than was previously expected, which is a double edge sword as on the one hand it makes for more favorable conditions for businesses, but on the other th...Read More
The price of cobalt metal in the Chinese domestic market continued to fall in the mid-week assessment on Wednesday March 20 amid persistent weakness in the international benchmark price, which more than offset an uptick in spot trading activity.Fastmarkets assessed the price of cobalt metal, min 99.8%, in China's domestic market at 255,000-290,000 yuan ($38,039-43,261) per tonne on March 20, widen...Read More
Domestic stainless steel prices in China narrowed downward slightly over the past week on rising inventories, though the market is not expected to weaken much further.Fastmarkets MB's domestic price assessment for benchmark 304 stainless cold-rolled coil in the major market of Wuxi was 14,700-15,000 yuan ($2,193-2,238) per tonne including value-added tax for the week ended Wednesday March 20, down...Read More
Fastmarkets will discontinue the publication of all VDM German base metal scrap prices, which are syndicated through Metalbulletin.com, Fastmarkets MyDesk, Scrap Price Bulletin and AMM.com. The prices will no longer be updated as of Friday March 22, 2019. The affected prices are as follows: Aluminium Alloy DIN 226 ingots Germany ?,? per 1,000kg (VDM) Aluminium Alloy DIN 231 ingots Germany ?,? per...Read More
With three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange having come off their weekly highs, most metals remained under selling pressure and have continued to consolidate this morning, Friday March 22. The initial weakness seen in the dollar index following the surprisingly dovish tone struck by the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) at the conclusion of their meeting on Wednesda...Read More