Turkish steel billet prices have increased slightly over the past week on an uptick in imported scrap values and reduced availability of billet in the CIS region, sources said on Thursday January 24.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for billet imports into Turkey was $410-420 per tonne cfr on Thursday, up from the $405-415 per tonne of last week.Suppliers in the Commonwealth of Independent Stat...Read More
Import prices for steel billet in Southeast Asia staged a slight recovery this week amid limited offers and Turkey's strengthening scrap market, although participants reckon that the billet gains might be short-lived because they were not supported by demand.Fastmarkets' daily import price assessment for billet in Southeast Asia was $450-455 per tonne cfr Manila on Thursday January 24, narrowing u...Read More
European molybdenum prices rose in trading this week, with oxide bouncing off a six-month low and ferro-molybdenum off a low last seen in December 2017 after a raft of new deals. The moves were fueled by a relative tightness in oxide, which pulled up alloy offer prices, although muted consumer demand for ferro-molybdenum and readily available supplies in Rotterdam may cap firmer price advances in...Read More
China's ferrous futures declined in the first hour of morning trading on Thursday January 24, but largely ended the session little changed from their opening prices.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange May rebar: 3,662 yuan ($539) per tonne, up 3 yuan per tonneJanuary hot-rolled coil: 3,576 yuan per tonne, down 3 yuan per tonneDalian Commodity Exchange January iron or...Read More
Summary of Anglo American's production results for the year ended December 31, 2018.(Full-year total, year-on-year percentage change)Copper production 668,300 tonnes, +15% Iron ore production - Kumba43.1 million...Read More
Iranian billet and slab producers continued to reduce their export prices to try and attract customers put off by US trading sanctions.The number of foreign buyers willing to deal with shipments from Iran has steadiliy decreased since the implementation of sanctions by the United States in August 2018. In Gulf Co-operation Council Countries (GCC), and in the UAE in particular (which used to be one...Read More
The price for rebar produced and delivered in Northern Europe stayed flat on Wednesday January 23, after the previous week's price reductions failed to spark an increase in activity.Fastmarkets MB's weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Northern Europe stayed at $530-550 ($602-625) per tonne delivered on Wednesday. The contract dipped from $540-560 per tonne a week ago.Few deals were repor...Read More
The export price for steel billet from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has surged toward the end of this week, spurred by rising offer prices after most mills filled their February order books with large sales in previous weeks, Fastmarkets heard on Thursday January 24.The recovery in import scrap prices in Turkey has also added to the positive sentiment among CIS suppliers.Offers of...Read More
Lead outperformed the other base metals on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday January 24, closing 2.2% higher, while both zinc and tin also gained amid continued falls in LME stocks. For lead, on-warrant metal remains at its lowest since 2009 at just above 41,000 tonnes. And in tin, persistent outflows and fresh cancelations are propelling the price higher; the exchange's total tin inventory is...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea scrap market remained quiet on Thursday January 24, with steel mills unwilling to pay high prices while finished steel demand is weak, local market sources told Fastmarkets MB.Offer prices for HMS 1&2 (80:20) have already increased to more than $290-295 per tonne cfr from suppliers, who cite increasing collection costs for the rise.Two cargoes were sold to a steel mill in the...Read More
Trade log for battery-grade lithium carbonate in China including trades, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets. Unless otherwise stated, all prices are per tonne on an ex-works China basis. Delivered prices are netted back. Fastmarkets prices Click here for Fastmarkets price assessment for lithium carbonate min 99.5% Li2CO3 battery grade, spot price range, ex-works China, yuan per tonne.Fas...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday January 24 that are worth another look.An ad hoc coalition of more than 45 groups from various industries in the United States has called on President Donald Trump's administration to end the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Canada and Mexico.Chinese steelmakers' narrowing margins and improvemen...Read More
Consumption of ferrous scrap in the United Kingdom will continue to increase over the coming years amid an expansion in the UK operations of international metals group Liberty House, Fastmarkets MB's research team believes. UK scrap demand in 2018 is on course to rise for the first time in four years after Liberty restarted a second electric arc furnace (EAF) at its site in Rotherham, northern Eng...Read More
It's been nine months since the United States announced Section 232 tariffs, and over six months since a 10% tax was applied to imports of aluminium from Canada, Mexico and the European Union. There's been a huge debate over how successful the tariffs - imposed on the grounds of national security and also applied at a 25% rate to steel - have been. Much depends on who you talk to, and what their s...Read More
Years ago, the idea that machines would replace humans on the trading floor seemed far-fetched and the suggestion that algorithms might replace humans entirely ridiculous.But both have happened in some shape or form, making the advent of blockchain - now being vaunted as the next game-changer in technology - a lot more realistic than naysayers might initially think.Dozens of trials and projec...Read More
US futures brokerage and clearing firm RJ O'Brien & Associates has hired energy-sector veteran Patrick Melia as senior vice president of commodity sales, the company said on Thursday January 24.Melia will be responsible for expanding the company's energy and metals clearing and execution business globally, in...Read More
Chinese steelmakers' narrowing margins and improvements in the supply of Brazilian iron ore have resulted in lower penalties for alumina content in the steelmaking raw material recently, though there are factors that could raise buyers' sensitivity toward this impurity in the coming months. The main driving factor for alumina sensitivity among buyers last year was the robust steelmaking margins in...Read More
Lead outperformed the other base metals on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday January 24, closing 2.2% higher, while both zinc and tin also gained amid continued falls in LME stocks. For lead, on-warrant metal remains at its lowest since 2009 at just above 41,000 tonnes. And in tin, persistent outflows and fresh cancelations are propelling the price higher; the exchange's total tin inventory is...Read More
Comex copper prices sank once again on Thursday morning in the United States, with persistent bearish overtones and short-covering hampering the red metal.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped 0.60 cents to $2.6485 per lb. "Although we acknowledge that market participants prefer to adopt a cautious stance toward copper for now,...Read More
Privately-owned Sigma Broking Ltd has approached members of the London Metal Exchange to acquire B shares as it moves forward with a plan to become the first new Category I ring-trading entity since 2007, well-informed sources told Fastmarkets. "There have been conversations between Sigma and LME members - it is well known who is long B shares and happy to sell them," one source close to the matte...Read More