Brazilian slab export prices have jumped for a third consecutive week following the positive trend in steel prices and the costs of raw materials.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment of Brazilian slab export prices was $490-530 per tonne fob on Friday February 22, compared with $460-510 per tonne fob a week earlier.Some volumes were still available for April shipment, and sellers were waiting to place o...Read More
Steel scrap prices in the principal trading regions have fallen sharply, as was expected by the majority of market participants, during the working week from Monday February 18 to Friday February 22.The price falls followed the decrease in Turkish scrap import prices this week, which was itself the result of limited demand for rebar and billet in the country's domestic market.Prices in Taiwan mana...Read More
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
Detailed data for Chinese trade is still not available, but there are indications that the East Asian country may have become the biggest importer of pig iron in Asia last year, according to Fastmarkets' research team.We pointed out in June last year that the Chinese import pig iron market might revive to fill the widening gap between iron and steel production in China, alongside ferrous scrap.Hon...Read More
The process to exclude steel and aluminium from the Section 232 import tariffs applied by the United States is having some interesting consequences.Notably, in the event of a national security issue - which Section 232 was designed to address - the United States would theoretically rely on Japan for its steel and Saudi Arabia for its aluminium.Those countries have been granted the highest volume o...Read More
Zinc and lead concentrate treatment charges (TCs) rose in February deals for spot cargoes with liquidity sinking over the Lunar New Year and while market participants became insular ahead of annual contract negotiations.Fastmarkets assessed zinc concentrate TCs at $215-250 per tonne on February 22 from $210-240 per tonne in January, which reflects the gap between the low volumes of trader and smel...Read More
Coal trading has become too risky, a trader remarked on Thursday February 21 amid news that customs authorities in Dalian, a major city in northeastern China, had slashed the yearly coal import quota for ports under their jurisdiction by 25%.The fallout of the move, which is expected to affect Australian coal shipments, came in the form of a weakening of the Australian dollar amid concerns about p...Read More
Copper's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange continued its strong performance at the close of trading on Friday February 22, reaching a seven-month high, while low LME stocks and a fresh cancelation of more than 37,000 tonnes in the morning supported the price.Trading was at its highest level since July 2018, and only a month earlier copper's three-month price had reached levels in exce...Read More
The seaborne coking coal market was quiet on Friday February 22 following a flurry of transactions through the week that sent prices of premium hard coking coal up by more than 4% over the week.Fastmarkets' cfr China Premium Hard Coking Coal Index was unchanged from the previous day at $212.60 per tonne on Friday, but up 4.8% from Monday, while the fob Australia Premium Ha...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher during morning trading on Friday February 22, with three-month copper and nickel prices breaching nearby resistance levels, while trade sentiment around US-China trade talks continues to support commodity investments. Copper's three-month price continues to trade in an uptrend amid a decade-low in LME stocks, while traded volumes r...Read More
Copper's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange continued its strong performance at the close of trading on Friday February 22, reaching a seven-month high, while low LME stocks and a fresh cancelation of more than 37,000 tonnes in the morning supported the price.Trading was at its highest level since July 2018, and only a month earlier copper's three-month price had reached levels in exce...Read More
An overview of the noble alloys markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
Zinc smelters have submitted bids for treatment charges (TCs) of up to $280 per tonne for annual contracts, kicking off concentrate supply negotiations ahead of the International Zinc Association (IZA) conference to be held in Scottsdale, Arizona, February 24-27.TCs are the fees paid to smelters for processing concentrate into refined metal.In January and February meetings with miners, smelte...Read More
The global copper market remained in a deficit of 395,000 tonnes through the first 11 months of 2018, the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) reported on Thursday February 21, although that shortfall tightened from a 545,000-tonne deficit in January-October."World growth was constrained by an unusually high frequency of smelter disruptions and temporary shutdowns for technical upgrades [and] m...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Zinc and lead concentrate treatment charges (TCs) rose in February deals for spot cargoes with liquidity sinking over the Lunar New Year and while market participants became insular ahead of annual contract negotiations.Fastmarkets assessed zinc concentrate TCs at $215-250 per tonne on February 22 from $210-240 per tonne in January, which reflects the gap between the low volumes of trader and smel...Read More
The US copper market saw heavy buying Friday morning amid mounting optimism that the trade dispute between the United States and China will be resolved in the coming months.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped 4.20 cents to $2.9390 per lb.Progress in US-China trade talks continued to prompt positive market sentiment over the week, w...Read More
Etienne Scemama, regional sales manager at Rio Tinto, has left the company, Fastmarkets understands. Scemama handled the physical trading of aluminium specialty products for the producer. He worked...Read More
Base metals stocks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed as of Friday February 22, with zinc and copper stocks continuing to increase due to sluggish demand in the domestic Chinese market over the previous week, while aluminium and tin inventories were almost flat, and those of nickel and lead dropped.Deliverable copper stocks at SHFE-approved warehouses had risen by 10,676 tonnes or 5.15% o...Read More
Brazil's apparent consumption of steel totaled 1.54 million tonnes in January, down 5.6% from 1.63 million tonnes during the same month in 2018, national steel association Instituto A??o Brasil said on Friday February 22.Performance lagged most in the flat steel market. Flat steel usage reached 905,000 tonnes in the month, as it fell by 8.2% from 986,000 tonnes in January 2018. Long steel consumpt...Read More