A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday December 11.Please click...Read More
Base metal prices rose on the London Metal Exchange by the close on Tuesday December 11, with copper acting as the best performer among the complex.Specifically, the three-month copper price surged by 1.3% to close at $2,590 per tonne. "LME copper continues to run rather positive micro-dynamics. Total LME stocks continue to see drawdowns, with net holdings edging to a fresh 2018 low of...Read More
Brazil's Companhia Brasileira de Alum?-nio (CBA) will invest 30 million Reais ($7.7 million) to increase its aluminium billet production capacity, the company's primary operations director Luis Jorge Nunes told Fastmarkets MB on Monday December 10.The expansion will change some of the currently halted aluminium-plate furnaces into aluminium billet production units. The company's production capacit...Read More
Chinese exporters of ferro-vanadium and vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) have significantly cut offer prices to stir up some buying interest overseas, while European traders continued to take profits, applying further pressure on ferro-vanadium prices. Chinese exporters slash offers to promote buying interest Europe FeV market continues to suffer from profit-taking Europe V2O5 market plummets following F...Read More
China's largest steel mill, Hebei Steel, has cut its monthly purchase price for silico-manganese, reversing the rise seen in last month's tender. The mill has offered to buy silico-manganese at 8,950 yuan ($1,296.81) per tonne for December delivery. The price includes delivery costs and payment through an acceptance draft, according to market sources in China. The latest tender is about 150 yuan l...Read More
Chinese exporters of ferro-vanadium and vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) have significantly cut offer prices to stir up some buying interest overseas, while European traders continued to take profits, applying further pressure on ferro-vanadium prices. Chinese exporters slash offers to promote buying interest Europe FeV market continues to suffer from profit-taking Europe V2O5 market plummets following F...Read More
Aurubis Executive Board chairman J? 1/4 rgen Schachler will leave the company on June 30 next year, the company said in a release today.The company has begun looking for a successor but has yet to find one.Aurubis is Europe's largest copper smelting company, producing over 1.1 million tonnes per year of refined copper at...Read More
Thin spot activity in the European antimony market pressured prices lower still in the region while an improvement in Chinese sentiment enabled prices there to stabilize. Chinese market steadyFastmarkets MB assessed the price of MMTA standard grade-II antimony, delivered duty-paid, in China at 49,500-50,000 yuan per tonne on Wednesday December 5, unchanged from the previous week. Sellers proved re...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in London and Shanghai on Friday December 7.China The Chinese grade-553 silicon price range narrowed upward by $10 per tonne to $1,580-1,650 per tonne last week from the previous week.Japanese traders continued to buy cargoes for delivery in the first quarter of 2019, prompting the slight rebound in the price.Europe Grade-441 and grade-553 silicon prices in Europ...Read More
Turkish steel mills remained out of deep-sea scrap markets on Tuesday December 11 because of continued uncertainty in the Chinese steel market, sources told Fastmarkets MB.Market pessimism weighed on China's rebar prices in both the domestic and the export market again on Tuesday December 11.Buyers kept procurement rates low amid bad weather in China, with work suspended at many construction sites...Read More
Turkish steel mills started the trading week without any deep-sea bookings because of uncertainty prevalent across Asian markets, sources told Fastmarkets MB.The mills were mostly watching the situation in Chinese steel market for clues to market direction, sources said on Monday December 10."The phone did not ring... Everybody is watching China and is not willing to buy scrap until the situation...Read More
Comex copper prices hit a one-week high in the US morning on Tuesday December 11 with the continued trade actions between China and the United States guiding the market. The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped 5.15 cents to $2.7715 per lb today. Earlier, the contract traded at $2.7805, the highest since December 4. Trade tensions betwe...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were for the most part firmer this morning, Tuesday December 11, with average gains of 0.2%. This after they again tested support levels on Monday, when support held to varying degrees.Copper led on the upside this morning with a 0.6% gain to $6,133 per tonne, while aluminium dipped 0.1% to $1,945 per tonne. Volume across the complex has...Read More
Comex copper prices softened on Monday morning in the United States amid weak Chinese data and continued equity market weakness.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped 2.25 cents to $2.7370 per lb."We expect copper prices to strengthen in the coming days," Fastmarkets analyst Boris Mikanikrezai said. "Although there is plenty of uncert...Read More
The outlook for the steel market in the Middle East is improving because of improved oil prices, Abu Bucker Husain, chief executive officer of United Arab Emirates-based Al Ghurair Iron and Steel (AGIS) said in his presentation on Tuesday December 11 in Dubai.2017 had been the worst year for contracts being awarded in the Middle East since 2012 but now investment in construction, infrastructure pr...Read More
Flat steel import prices in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have remained stable over the past week due to limited demand near year-end, sources said on Tuesday December 11. Demand was subdued because buyers do not want to build up inventories before finalizing their year-end accounting procedures, they told Fastmarkets. UAE Chinese offers for hot-rolled coil (HRC) into the UAE wer...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices dropped on Tuesday December 11 amid sparse trading both domestically and in the export market.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,710-3,720 yuan ($537-538) per tonne, down 10-30 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,530-3,560 yuan per tonne, down 50 yuan per tonnePrices were lower due to sparse trading today, a Zhejiang-based trader said.The...Read More
The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Wednesday December 12.Base metal prices rose on the London Metal Exchange by the close on Tuesday December 11, with copper surging after market sentiment was boosted by positive news of easing tensions between China and the United States. Read more in our live futures report.Here are how prices looked at the close of trading:Saudi Arabia ha...Read More
Saudi Arabia has not imported rebar in 2018 and cannot utilize its full production capacity due to weak domestic demand, Ahmed Al-Hussain, rebar director of Saudi National Committee for Steel Industry said at Fastmarkets MB's Middle East Iron and Steel Conference in Dubai on Tuesday December 11.Saudi Arabia has a combined rebar and wire-rod production capacity of 13.5 million tonnes per year, yet...Read More
Brazilian imports of flat steel products dropped year on year in November, while long steel shipments increased in the same period, according to figures from the country's foreign trade ministry, MDIC. Imports of flat steel fell by 8.78% year on year in November to 93,615 tonnes, compared with 102,626 tonnes in the corresponding month of 2017. China was the largest provider of flat steel to Brazil...Read More