Aluminium foundry premiums were on divergent paths this month, with the US premium boosted by tight supply and European premiums continuing to tumble. The foundry premium in Eastern Europe fell for the second month in a row. Demand in the automotive sector has been poor, and foundry is used in the production of alloy wheels.Fastmarkets assessed the Eastern European premium at $370-410 per tonne on...Read More
Liberty House has completed the acquisition of Rio Tinto's Dunkerque aluminium smelter in France for around $500 million. Part of the UK-based GFG Alliance, Liberty House said on Friday December 14 that the completion of the deal will add 285,000 tonnes per year to its aluminium capacity. The smelter, which is Europe's number one producer of aluminium, will be renamed ...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange closed lower on Friday December 12, with a higher dollar and stock increases putting pressure on prices.Aluminium closed at a slightly lower $1,926 per tonne - a 57,000-tonne delivery into LME-listed warehouses this morning ruled out a move back towards $2,000 per tonne.The three-month copper price also closed slightly lower than Thursday's closing level at...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ending Friday December 14. China The domestic ferro-chrome spot price was unchanged from last week after sellers were heard to have become unwilling to cut their prices further because the current price level has left them limited room for profits. The imported charge chrome market was lackluster. Sel...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ending Friday December 14. China The domestic ferro-chrome spot price was unchanged from last week after sellers were heard to have become unwilling to cut their prices further because the current price level has left them limited room for profits. The imported charge chrome market was lackluster. Sel...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Manganese ore prices dropped by as much as 8% on Friday December 14 after miners slashed offer prices to entice cautious buyers before the end of the year. Fastmarkets MB's 37% manganese ore index, fob Port Elizabeth dropped by 53 cents to $5.50 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu)Fastmarkets MB's 37% manganese ore index, cif Tianjin dropped 51 cents to $6.22 per dmtu.Fastmarkets MB's 44% ma...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Global ferrous scrap prices fell by $5 per tonne or less during the week ending Friday December 14 following a period of quieter trading.The Turkish market witnessed another week with no new cargoes booked, leaving prices virtually unchanged, while US prices were flat, which was also due to a lack of fresh trades.India made no bookings but prices fell by $5, as did prices for Taiwan and Vietnam.Tu...Read More
Turkish steel producers have ended another week without making any deep-sea purchases because of the continued lack of demand for finished steel in the country's domestic and export markets, sources said on Friday December 14.Domestic mills have been holding back from scrap purchases for three weeks now, with only one cargo booked since November 23, which was a European cargo at an average price o...Read More
Comex copper prices weakened in morning trading on Friday December 14 after a release of softer Chinese industrial data, placing stress on the base metals complex.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped by 1.85 cents to $2.7485 per lb.Analysts said weaker Chinese economic data was pressuring the base metals complex as a whole this...Read More
Disappointing Chinese economic data has weighed on the three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange this morning, Friday December 14, with all the metals in negative territory and showing average losses of 0.4%.The three-month zinc price led the way with a drop of 1%, copper was off by 0.5% at $6,121 per tonne, while the rest were off by between 0.1% and 0.3%.Volume across the compl...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Chinese domestic spot battery-grade lithium carbonate prices moved up slightly on Thursday December 13 on reduced producer stocks near the end of the year whilst lithium hydroxide prices softened week on week on slow demand. Lithium carbonate prices moved slightly up due to lower availability near the end of the year. Lithium hydroxide prices dropped on slow demand and lower offers from prod...Read More
Tianqi's recent purchase of a stake in SQM is the latest in a series of deals showing how participants at different stages of the supply chain are opting to strengthen their position through vertical partnerships. Meanwhile, consumers are keen to lock in feedstock supply through offtake agreements. The global lithium industry is growing rapidly, but at the same time competition is consolidating, w...Read More
South American flat steel import prices increased this week after traders were able to sell at higher levels following an easing of the recent downtrend in China. The rapid descent in Chinese steel prices has slowed in recent days, with buyers in South America starting to accept higher offer prices, one market source said. But market participants said there were no indications of whether Chinese p...Read More
Domestic prices for steel coil products in Turkey fell this week on continuing slow demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday December 14. "Prices are not important," a source told Fastmarkets. "Buyers are refraining from buying because of uncertainty in the market."December will be a slow month for the sector, and many people [also] expect January to be slow," he added. Fastmarkets' we...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices continued to rise on Friday December 14, capping a week of gains that appears to have led to a drop in trading activity in the export market. DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,820-3,830 yuan ($555-557) per tonne, up 30-50 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,620-3,630 yuan per tonne, up 10-20 yuan per tonnePrices rose further due to buyers constantly...Read More