Import prices for steel billet in Southeast Asia fell further on Friday November 30 amid downward pressure from low-priced Chinese materials, although trading remained at a standstill with buyers and sellers deterred by the drastic price drops.Additionally, the Philippines - a major billet importer - was away from the market due to a holiday on Friday.Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for billet...Read More
China's rebar prices dropped in both the domestic and the export markets on Friday November 30, amid low trading activity. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,800-3,830 yuan ($547-551) per tonne, down 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,520-3,550 yuan per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneLow rebar futures prices led to little buying interest in the domestic market, pushing down prices. Stock...Read More
Domestic prices for stainless steel in Europe have remained under pressure from competitive trading, both with imports from Asia and between domestic suppliers, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 30.Transaction prices for grade-304 cold-rolled (CR) stainless sheets were assessed at ?,?2,100-2,150 ($2,389-2,446) per tonne delivered on November 30, down by ?,?50 per tonne from ?,?2,150-2,20...Read More
Key data for the pricing session for the week ended Friday November 30. China The domestic ferro-chrome spot price stabilized on thin trading activity and sellers' unwillingness to cut their price further because current levels have been close to their production costs.The imported charge chrome market was lackluster this week while the market digested the consequences of a...Read More
Brazilian steelmakers are concerned that the domestic industry will struggle if President-elect Jair Bolsonaro reduces or does away with import tariffs when he takes office in January 2019, sources told Fastmarkets MB last week.Other market participants, however, do not believe any changes will be done abruptly or without corporate tax reforms. The new federal administration's future minister of e...Read More
Global crude steel production volumes continued to rise year on year in October 2018, according to statistics published by the World Steel Association (Worldsteel) on Friday November 23.World crude steel output totaled 156.6 million tonnes in October this year, compared with 148 million tonnes in the corresponding month of 2017. Asia continued to be the single largest steel-producing region, with...Read More
Swiss multinational investment bank, UBS Group, has applied for Category II membership on the London Metal Exchange, according to a note released by the exchange on Thursday November 15. The LME currently has 32 Category II members and the Swiss bank's London subsidiary, UBS Ltd, is already a member. Last month, Chinese broker Nanhua Futures similarly took steps...Read More
Global ferrous scrap prices continued to trend downward during the working week from Monday November 26 to Friday November 30, due to poor demand and lackluster sales of finished steel.Turkish scrap import prices and US export scrap prices fell due to weak market sentiment in Asia, while persistently poor demand continued to weigh on Asian scrap import prices. Indian import prices also slipped on...Read More
Sentiment in the European austenitic alloy scrap market has been negative and mills have continued to drag prices downward, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 30."Demand [for alloy steel scrap] is slow and sentiment in both the raw material and stainless steel markets is negative. The mills are trying to get...Read More
Domestic prices for stainless steel in Europe have remained under pressure from competitive trading, both with imports from Asia and between domestic suppliers, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 30.Transaction prices for grade-304 cold-rolled (CR) stainless sheets were assessed at ?,?2,100-2,150 ($2,389-2,446) per tonne delivered on November 30, down by ?,?50 per tonne from ?,?2,150-2,20...Read More
South African manganese ore miner United Manganese of Kalahari (UMK) has declared force majeure on manganese ore shipments from the port of Saldanha, Fastmarkets MB understands.UMK, which produces just above 3 million tonnes per year of manganese ore, ships about half its monthly exports from Saldanha. South Africa's state transport...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Friday November 30.Most base metals prices ticked higher in morning trading on the London Metal Exchange on Friday November 30, with lead the best performer of the morning.Lead led the complex gains, with the three-month...Read More
Good morning from Fastmarkets MB's offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Friday November 30.Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange broadly consolidated during Asian morning trading on Friday, with the market focused on the upcoming Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Argentina - where US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are due...Read More
Fastmarkets rounds up some of the key news and price moves across the global metals markets this week.Base metalsCodelco's copper production and earnings fell in the first nine months of 2018, the Chilean state-owned copper producer said.Australian-Chinese miner MMG Ltd has completed the sale of its Sepon copper gold mine to China's Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining for $275 million, the company said.Alu...Read More
London Metal Exchange members are considering a multitude of ways to continue to service their EU clients in the event that a financial services deal is either not forthcoming or does not go far enough when the UK finally leaves the European Union. Some companies have even told their LME sales teams they need to be prepared to move to another major European city to be able to legally service their...Read More
If Brexit - the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union on March 29, 2019 - isn't on your radar, it should be. With the annual London Metal Exchange Week now in full swing, the exchange, its members and their customers need to have contingency plans in place if they are expecting to be affected in any way by Brexit. And as with anything political, an element of brinkmanship will na...Read More
When the London Metal Exchange finished its 12-step warehouse reform package, it proved once more that you cannot please all of the people all of the time. It faced some inevitable criticism of the rules, in particular that the LME went too far in certain areas and should consider tweaking or rolling back some of its reforms. In particular, the focus of attention was on the load-in, load-out (LILO...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange closed higher on Friday November 30, with zinc, lead and nickel the best performers of the day.Zinc was the strongest performer on Friday, with its three-month price rising 2.9% from Thursday to close at $2,542 per tonne. After consistently dipping since January, LME zinc stocks settled at a fresh 2018-low of 117,550 tonnes on Friday.W...Read More
Comex copper prices experienced further weakness ahead of world leaders converging in Argentina for the Group of Twenty (G20) meeting this weekend.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 1.80 cents to $2.7735 per lb.Price movement is expected to be muted today with investors focusing on the weekend's G20 summit, where finance ministers.....Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices weakened on Friday November 30 with market participants remaining cautious in their trading activity.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $65.95 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $0.56 per tonne.MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $65.22 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $0.56 per tonne.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $68.76 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $0.54 per tonne.MB 58% Fe P...Read More