Turkish steel producers continued to book deep-sea scrap cargoes for April shipments due to low stock levels, with prices continuing to nudge up, sources said on Tuesday March 5.A steel mill in Northern Turkey booked a European cargo, comprising 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (75:25), a 10,000-tonne mixture of HMS and plate & structural (P&S) scrap, and 5,000 tonnes of new cuttings at an....Read More
The price of copper on the Comex exchange in the United States bounced back in morning trading on Tuesday March 5, with continued optimism about the outcome of international trade talks.The copper price for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rebounded by 2.05 cents to $2.9295 per lb.Continued optimism about US-China trade talks has improved risk sentiment acro...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday March 5 that are worth another look.The United States Commerce Department launched a Section 232 investigation into titanium sponge imports on Monday March 4 after domestic producer Titanium Metals Corp (Timet) filed a petition in September.Ferro-chrome prices are likely to be supported in the near to medium term by co...Read More
The US spot copper premium, which has held at a four-year high since July 2018, could come under pressure from an anticipated influx of Chinese material, market participants told Fastmarkets AMM.Fastmarkets AMM assessed the US copper cathode premium steady at 7-7.5 cents per lb delivered to the Midwest on Tuesday March 5; the premium is up by 26.1% from 5.5-6 cents per lb one year ago."There...Read More
Codelco faces further delays in bringing back refined copper smelting at its Chuquicamata plant, which is now expected to resume operations in mid-April, company sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 5.Chuquicamata, which has the capacity to smelt 320,000 tonnes of refined copper per year, has been out of the market since mid-December as Codelco upgrades...Read More
Nickel demand is set to outstrip supply as soon as 2023, Amur Minerals chief executive officer Robin Young told Fastmarkets in an interview on Wednesday February 27. The junior mining company owns the Russia-based Kun-Manie project, the world's largest Asia-adjacent unexploited nickel deposit, home to an estimated 1.2 million tonnes of mineable nickel ore. And if nickel demand outstrips supply as...Read More
Base metals trading firm Traxys has hired Juli??n Gonzalez to trade zinc and lead concentrates, sources confirmed to Fastmarkets. Gonzalez was last at Swiss trader Trafigura, where he headed refined zinc and lead trading. Gonzalez will serve under Traxys' new...Read More
The prices for hot-rolled coil imported into the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have fallen over the past week, with the prices for other flat steel products moving in the opposite direction, but buying activity for all such materials has remained limited, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday March 5.Deals were scarce because end-user demand was still weak, sources told Fastmarkets.In addition, sto...Read More
Price assessments for steel rebar and billet imported into the United Arab Emirates have decreased slightly this week because of lower prices in agreed deals, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 5.Demand for rebar in the country remained only moderate.Rebar importsOman sold rebar to its northern neighbor state at $530 per tonne cpt UAE.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for UAE rebar impor...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices lost their upward momentum on Tuesday March 5 amid declining futures, while trading activity also thinned. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,800-3,840 yuan ($567-573) per tonne, narrowed downward by 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,800-3,830 yuan per tonne, down 20-30 yuan per tonneDeclining futures led sellers to lower their prices in the morning. The...Read More
China's domestic prices for hot-rolled coil moved down slightly on Tuesday March 5 amid falling futures, but mills raised their export offers on optimism for demand to pick up in both locally and abroad.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,850-3,880 yuan ($574-579) per tonne, down 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,780-3,800 yuan per tonne, down 10-20 yuan per tonne Losses in the futures...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. ...Read More
Export offers for Chinese cold-rolled coil and hot-dipped galvanized coil continued to rise over the past week despite thin trading, with the strengthening domestic market in China encouraging mills to ask for higher prices.Cold-rolled coilFastmarkets MB's weekly export price assessment for Chinese SPCC 1.0mm CRC was $547-558 per tonne fob on Tuesday March 5, up $2-3 per tonne from $545-555 per to...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for rebar, wire rod, steel beams and other long steel products. ...Read More
Iron ore prices corrected on Tuesday March 5 despite the addition of further production restrictions for steelmakers in China, sources told Fastmarkets.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $87.03 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.66 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $86.43 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.66 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $89.20 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.68 pe...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials. Latest transaction: iron oreIron oreVale, Global Ore, 65,000 tonnes of 65% Fe Iron Ore Carajas, traded at $99 per tonne cfr China, laycan February 27-March 8.BHP,...Read More
Domestic iron ore supply in China has limited capacity to ramp up after smaller and higher cost miners exited the market over the past few years, a local miner said.China's domestic run-of-mine (ROM) iron ore production was estimated at 763 million tonnes in 2018, down 37.9% from a year earlier, chief executive officer and vice chairman Greg Pan of Hanking Industrial Group said in his keynote spee...Read More
The seaborne coking coal spot market was largely stable on Tuesday March 5 with little change seen for bids and offers.There is little optimism among market participants for regional steel demand to strengthen significantly in the next few months, though prices for steel products are expected to pick up in Asia during the April-June quarter."Our steel prices will mostly likely increase by around 5...Read More
Fastmarkets will host a free web seminar on Monday March 18 at 10am London time, to introduce the new Fastmarkets-settled London Metal Exchange cash-settled alumina and aluminium premiums contracts. The webinar will cover how Fastmarkets assesses daily alumina indices and aluminium premium assessments and how you can manage your risk with the new LME cash-settled contracts, launching on March 11,...Read More
Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange continued its uptrend during morning trading on Tuesday March 5, nearing $13,500 per tonne amid strong demand while the rest of the complex trails marginally higher. Continued trade optimism in US-China trade talks has improved risk-sentiment across global commodities markets and prompted upward movement in prices, however a stronger US dolla...Read More