Base Metal Stocks Articles

LIVE FUTURES REPORT 04/03: LME Al price dips 2.2% against US dollar; Ni continues uptrend

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

Aluminium's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was down by more than 2% at the close of trading on Monday March 4, with the broad strength in the US dollar deterring commodity investment.Volumes in both aluminium and copper futures were high over the day's trading, with more than 22,000 lots traded in both by the close. While open interest in aluminium has fallen by over 48,000 positio...Read More

GLOBAL TUNGSTEN WRAP: APT, ferro-tungsten prices up amid tight prompt availability

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

The ammonium paratungstate (APT) and ferro-tungsten prices continued to climb last week in China and Europe amid tightening prompt availability and renewed domestic demand in China. Concentrate price up on tight supply APT moves up in Europe on low prompt inventories; Chinese market up on renewed buying Ferro-tungsten prices in both China and Europe continue uptrend In China, Fastmarkets assessed...Read More

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from March 4

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday March 4 that are worth another look.The Indonesia Commodities & Derivatives Exchange (ICDX) has ended the suspension of key smelter inspector PT Surveyor Indonesia in connection with the launch of its new physical tin contract, which is set to transfer tin exports to bonded warehouses for the first time in the exchange's his...Read More

COMMENT: Little room for established lithium producers to ignore China

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

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

COMMENT: Indian local scrap use constrained despite rise in crude steel output

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

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

HOTTER ON METALS: US Section 232 tariffs could fund the border wall, data shows

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

Section 232 tariffs on aluminium and steel raised $3.6 billion in their first nine months, and revenues for the last two months are likely to push that figure up by around another $1 billion, US government data shows.That figure would be enough to cover the shortfall in funding sought by United States President Donald Trump for border security. In other words, aluminium and steel tariffs could fun...Read More

LIVE FUTURES REPORT 04/03: LME Al price dips 2.2% against US dollar; Ni continues uptrend

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

Aluminium's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was down by more than 2% at the close of trading on Monday March 4, with the broad strength in the US dollar deterring commodity investment.Volumes in both aluminium and copper futures were high over the day's trading, with more than 22,000 lots traded in both by the close. While open interest in aluminium has fallen by over 48,000 positio...Read More

NEWSBREAK: ICDX gives Indonesian tin exports reprieve; halts suspension of PT Surveyor Indonesia amid new physical tin contract launch

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

The Indonesia Commodities & Derivatives Exchange (ICDX) has ended the suspension of key smelter inspector PT Surveyor Indonesia in connection with the launch of its new physical tin contract, which is set to transfer tin exports to bonded warehouses for the first time in the exchange's history, ICDX chief executive officer Lamon Rutten said on Monday March 4. PT Surveyor was ordered to suspend ope...Read More

LIVE FUTURES REPORT 04/03: Comex copper price shrugs off progress in US-China trade negotiations

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

The US copper market began the week on weak footing on Monday March 4 despite progress between the United States and China on the trade dispute. The copper price for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped by 1.05 cents to $2.9215 per lb. In trade talks, discussions between the US and China could be indicating resolution on the two countries' continued trade...Read More

India's Overwhelming Steel Projections?

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

The Indian government's plans of hitting 300 million tonnes of steel capacity by 2030 sounds overambitious in the current scenario given that output only managed to reach the 101 million tonne mark in 2017 - indicating three-fold (Read More

Steelmakers' improvement continues but industry still under pressure

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

After suffering for some seven years through to 2015, the world's steelmakers have had cause for cheer over the past couple of years. After some heavy losses and write-downs, they finally appear to have emerged from the wreckage of the global financial crisis. An economic upswing has taken root in most regions of the world, Chinese steel output and export growth has slowed noticeably, and steel pr...Read More

Ilva and the Italian flat steel market - poised for a change?

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

For a number of years problems at Ilva, the largest steelworks in Europe, have been casting shadow over the performance of the whole Italian steel industry. Will an acquisition of Ilva by a consortium led by ArcelorMittal, now in its final stage, be a game changer for the market?Following multiple reports of environmental and health problems caused by the Taranto plant, in 2013 Ilva was placed und...Read More

Modest changes in Chinese rebar demand spark acute price rises so can the reverse be true?

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

China ended steel production in all of the country's illegal induction furnaces by the end of June last year, it ha claimed.Most operators in China are primarily small private mills that use low-quality scrap to produce substandard rebar. This is mixed with grade III (HRB400) rebar and sold at a discount to construction contractors.For a long period, the government had neither a record of nor cont...Read More

No stopping strong global EV sales growth

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

China's month-on-month new electric vehicles (NEV) sales rebounded in August after month-on-month declines in June and July. The drop in sales between May and June was the first drop since September 2016, but Fastmarkets MB had expected Chinese NEV sales to dip temporarily after the June subsidy changes came into effect because consumers and NEV manufacturers would have to adjust to the new subsid...Read More

Higher-grade iron ore prices pioneered the downtrend in the Chinese steelmaking raw material market in November

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

Iron ore prices fell sharply in the second half of November after climbing through October, with prices for higher-grade material pioneering the decline.Fastmarkets MB daily benchmark for 65% Fe fines dropped by 22% by Monday November 26 after peaking on October 29. The 62% Fe iron ore index declined by 16% over the period, as some Chinese steelmakers started to seek larger volumes of cheaper ores...Read More

BIR LONDON: US scrap market still depends on Turkey after Section 232

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

The steel scrap sector in the United States still depends on exports to Turkey, a member of the Fastmarkets research team said during the ferrous session at the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) conference in London.This dependence persists despite the changes in the international markets created by the US' imposition of its Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel products, metals analyst Le...Read More

Is there room for China to import MPI once again?

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

Seaborne pig iron has become relatively competitive versus ferrous scrap over the past year in most regions, and China is no exception. As the first chart below illustrates, the gap between the MBR's proxy for imported pig iron price in China and the Metal Bulletin's Chinese domestic heavy melt scrap price assessment had shrunk by late 2017. The premium averaged $17 per tonne this year to date, co...Read More

GLOBAL MANGANESE WRAP: Low-grade ore prices boosted by fresh wave of demand

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

Low-grade manganese ore prices rose in China last week in active trading amid strong demand, while global manganese alloys prices were largely stable - barring China, where prices weakened on muted buying. Low-grade ore prices gain up to 22 cents per dmtuAlloy prices keep sliding in ChinaIndian silica-manganese prices edge upEuropean alloy prices stabilize Low-grade manganese ore prices jumped by...Read More

PRICING NOTICE: Proposal to amend publication frequency and specification of copper concentrates TC/RC index

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

Fastmarkets proposes to increase the frequency of publication of its copper concentrates treatment charges and refining charges (TC/RC) Asia Pacific index and make small adjustments to the index' specifications.Under the proposals, Fastmarkets will publish the index weekly instead of twice-monthly. The chemical specification of what Fastmarkets considers to be clean standard-grade concentrates wou...Read More

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from March 4

March 05, 2019 / Staff reporter

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday March 4 that are worth another look.The Indonesia Commodities & Derivatives Exchange (ICDX) has ended the suspension of key smelter inspector PT Surveyor Indonesia in connection with the launch of its new physical tin contract, which is set to transfer tin exports to bonded warehouses for the first time in the exchange's his...Read More

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