Seaborne iron ore prices rebounded on Friday September 3 following an uptick in China's steel market, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $144.71 per tonne, up $2.69 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $145.30 per tonne, up $2.71 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $114.54 per tonne, up $2.52 per tonne65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cfr Qi...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Dalila Ouerghi and...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices maintained the upward trend on Friday September 3, with demand picking up ahead of the weekend.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,270-5,300 yuan ($816-820) per tonne, up by 50-60 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing) weekly assessment: 5,140-5,170 yuan per tonne, up by 120-130 yuan per tonneBuyers raised procurement rates for consumption in the coming weekend, pushi...Read More
London Metal Exchange ring dealing members have a decision to make - whether to remain one or not.The LME has just announced it will reopen the open outcry trading floor, which was temporarily closed due to Covid-19, on September 6.Its plan, however, comes with a twist; some ring dealers say, a knife.The official prices - which the global trade and industry use as the global reference for physical...Read More
Domestic prices for alloy steel scrap in the UK increased in the week to Friday September 3 due to good demand combined with tight supply, sources have told Fastmarkets.UK sellers of alloy scrap have been benefiting from both good domestic demand and strong demand and higher prices in India and the EU. As a result, UK buyers...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: SHFE tailwind for LME pricesAs we are entering the traditional strong demand season, we expect Chinese aluminium demand to show further recovery, and we expect demand from existing end-user sectors, new infrastructure projects and the export sector to show some increases. As a result, we believe that S...Read More
Brazilian slab export prices declined during the week ended Friday September 3 amid lower deals seen in the last days of August and lower international slab prices.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel slab, export, fob main port Brazil was $870-900 per tonne on Friday, down by $20-50 from $900-920 per tonne the previous week. Companies were mostly analyzing the market before making new offers....Read More
South American flat-rolled steel import prices decreased during the week ended Friday September 3, with material from countries other than China dominating the market and ahead of November-shipment negotiations.Hot- and cold-rolled coil from the Commonwealth of Independent States continued to be offered to the continent's Atlantic coast, primarily to Brazil and Colombia. No deals were reported dur...Read More
Chilean copper production in July was close to stability when compared with the corresponding month of 2020, amid increased output from Codelco and a drop reported by Escondida and Collahuasi, the country's copper commission, Cochilco, said on Thursday September 2.Chile produced 465,000 tonnes of copper in July, a slight decrease of 0.02% from 465,100 tonnes a year before but down by 2.58% from 47...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Global welded pipe prices surged in May as strong demand and still-insufficient supply lifted flat steel prices.The biggest jumps were seen in China, which was hit by the unexpected announcement of the elimination of export rebates on welded pipes in April. Chinese seaborne prices reached $1,570 per tonne fob for longitudina...Read More
The light iron scrap market in the United Kingdom widened in its price range during the week to Friday September 3, with the low end dropping ?5 ($7) per tonne. And quiet trading in European deep-sea export markets weighed on British prices, according to trade sources.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light domestic, delivered inter-merchant, UK was ?170-185...Read More
Three-month aluminium futures on the London Metal Exchange closed at their highest level for a decade on Friday September 3, with the base-metals complex broadly making gains despite jobs data from the United States coming in dramatically lower than expected.The LME aluminium contract closed at $2,727 per tonne on Friday, up by 1.1% from Thursday's close and its highest since May 3, 2011. This cam...Read More
Brazil's pig iron export market weakened during the week to Friday September 3 on sales to China and the United States.Fastmarkets' assessment of pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil was $475-485 per tonne on Friday, down $15-20 from $495-500 per tonne a week earlier and extending the decline from the previous week.A sale of around 100,000 tonnes of pig iron was sold...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.With nickel prices down by almost 20% over the space of around ten days during late February and early March, one might have been expecting us to be reporting sharply-lower prices of stainless steel, at least for the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel.This is not the case, at least in Europe and the Unite...Read More
Taiwanese steel mills have shifted their buying focus toward bulk Japanese H1&H2 (50:50) scrap in light of the shortage of containerized heavy-melting scrap (HMS) 1&2 (80:20) from the United States West Coast.Bids increased to $465-468 per tonne cfr Taiwan on Friday September 3, up from $460-465 per tonne cfr Taiwan mid-week.There was a transaction concluded at $465 per tonne cfr Taiwan earlier in...Read More
Spot prices for hot-rolled coil in China's domestic market rose on Friday September 3 after supply concerns emerged following a series of mill announcements of maintenance plans for September, the traditional high season, sources told Fastmarkets.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,760-5,800 yuan ($892-898) per tonne, up by 90-110 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): weekly assessment: 5,720-5...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.As we approach the end of the first half of 2021, steel markets in Europe and the United States continue to heat up. This six-month period is largely unprecedented, with both steel prices and steelmakers' margins hitting a number of new record highs throughout.The rally is likely nearing its end, however, with global steel ou...Read More
If any member was going to leave the London Metal Exchange ring trading floor, the exchange was probably hoping it wouldn't be Triland Metals Ltd.The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi, is one of the exchange's longest serving Category 1 members, having joined in 1972 after being founded in the prior year. Having a unit of Japan's largest trading company as a ri...Read More
Three-month aluminium futures on the London Metal Exchange closed at their highest level for a decade on Friday September 3, with the base-metals complex broadly making gains despite jobs data from the United States coming in dramatically lower than expected.The LME aluminium contract closed at $2,727 per tonne on Friday, up by 1.1% from Thursday's close and its highest since May 3, 2011. This cam...Read More
The global aluminium industry needs to work collaboratively and faster to deal with carbon emissions, and social and governance challenges, executives said during a sustainability panel discussion at Fastmarkets' International Aluminium Conference on Friday September 3.Such industry-wide movement will also need large investments to materialize, which could come from the private sector, the governm...Read More