Key data for the pricing session for the week ending November 23. China Domestic ferro-chrome spot prices softened slightly this week amid thin buying interest.The UG2 chrome ore index was unmoved, with buyers taking a wait-and-watch stance prior to the release of December's ferro-chrome tender prices...Read More
Price increases for the steel supplied to carmakers in Brazil may exceed 20% in 2019 despite the downward price trend in China, the chief financial officer of Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas, Alberto Ono, said on Friday November 23 during an investor meeting.Steelmakers are discussing next year's contracts with the automotive industry and initially set rises of 25.00-27.50%. Companhia Sider??rgica N...Read More
Special steelmaker Voestalpine attributed an 11% fall in its earnings for the first half of 2018 to continuing global trade conflicts, it said late last week.The Austrian company reported a decline of 11.2% in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) over April-September 2018, the first half of its financial year, to ?,?860 million ($969 million). This compared with...Read More
European stainless steel market participants were losing confidence that the market will recover early in the New Year, they told Fastmarkets on Friday November 9, with transaction prices falling further this week.Transaction prices for grade-304 cold-rolled (CR) stainless sheets were assessed at ?,?2,150-2,200 ($2,454-2,511) per tonne delivered on Friday, down by ?,?30-60 per tonne from ?,?2,180-...Read More
Global ferrous scrap prices continued to move downward in the week ending Friday November 23, with persistently weak finished steel sales and fears about renewed Chinese exports.Cargoes booked in Turkey were at lower prices due to fears of increased volumes of rebar being exported from China. The market in India was dragged down by the negative sentiment in Turkey, with prices falling by $8 per to...Read More
There is uncertainty in the United States pig iron market because the markets for scrap and hot-rolled coil (HRC), the key indicators, are moving in opposite directions, Fastmarkets was told on Friday November 23.Fastmarkets' price assessment for US imports of pig iron was $378-385 per tonne cfr on Friday, narrowing upward from $370-385 per tonne last week.One deal for high-phosphorous pig iron fo...Read More
Indian importers are considering imports of hot-rolled coil (HRC) from China because South Korean suppliers have exited the Indian market due to falling prices.China-origin commercial grade HRC was offered earlier this week to Indian importers at $505-510 per tonne cfr Mumbai for late January-early February shipments.But there had been no Chinese HRC import bookings by Indian importers by Friday N...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were predominantly lower at the close of trading on Friday November 23, with zinc's three-month price worst hit over the afternoon amid a sharp sell-off across the base metals complex. Despite thin spot activity due to national holidays in the United States, volumes traded on the exchange were moderate after European markets opened in quiet fashion,...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Friday November 23. The London Metal Exchange three-month nickel price hit a fresh 2018 low in morning trading, with the rest of the complex following lower. Here's how base metals prices look at 12:30pm London time:Read our live futures report here. "The underlying trend in the base...Read More
Good morning from Fastmarkets MB's offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Friday November 23.Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly up during Asian morning trading on Friday, with the complex benefitting from a slightly weaker dollar. Tin and nickel fell however, with the former coming under pressure from fears over slowing demand and a bui...Read More
Fastmarkets reviews the major stories that have affected the steel market during the week ended Friday November 23.Raw materialsThe price of pig iron exports from the Commonwealth of Independent States has fallen over the past seven days due to weak prices both for raw materials and for finished steel products.High-grade iron ore producer Carpentaria Resources sees a strong need for a high-grade i...Read More
Alumina traders in China have responded with skepticism to Qianhai Mercantile Exchange's (QME) plans to internationalize its yuan-denominated prices and list them on foreign exchanges such as Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Market (HKEX), Fastmarkets has learned. QME made its debut in October this year when it launched a spot domestic alumina price. But liquidity has been slow to build up and few a...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were predominantly lower at the close of trading on Friday November 23, with zinc's three-month price worst hit over the afternoon amid a sharp sell-off across the base metals complex. Despite thin spot activity due to national holidays in the United States, volumes traded on the exchange were moderate after European markets opened in quiet fashion,...Read More
Alumina traders in China have responded with skepticism to Qianhai Mercantile Exchange's (QME) plans to internationalize its yuan-denominated prices and list them on foreign exchanges such as Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Market (HKEX), Fastmarkets has learned. QME made its debut in October this year when it launched a spot domestic alumina price. But liquidity has been slow to build up and few a...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices continued to drop toward the $70-per-tonne-cfr mark on Friday November 23 amid plunges in the futures and steel markets.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $70.13 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $2.05 per tonne.MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $69.32 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $2.05 per tonne.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $73.07 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $2.75 per tonne.M...Read More
The steel scrap sector in the United States still depends on exports to Turkey, a member of the Fastmarkets research team said during the ferrous session at the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) conference in London.This dependence persists despite the changes in the international markets created by the US' imposition of its Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel products, metals analyst Le...Read More
European austenitic alloy scrap prices were largely stable this week, although further losses are possible while the market's fundamentals remain weak. The exception was European import 18/8 stainless scrap solids, the price range for which slipped to ?,?930-950 ($1,060-1,083) per tonne cif, down by ?,?20 per tonne, according to Fastmarkets MB's assessmentDemand is poor, as it has been since Octob...Read More
European grade-304 stainless steel prices may never fully recover from their present slump because of the need to compete with low-cost production from Asia, particularly in Indonesia, a European trader said on Friday 23 November. The Tsingshan Group plant in Sulawesi, Indonesia, which has capacity of 1 million tonnes per year, mines its own nickel pig iron (NPI) and chromium, as well as having ca...Read More
Alumina traders in China have responded with skepticism to Qianhai Mercantile Exchange's (QME) plans to internationalize its yuan-denominated prices and list them on foreign exchanges such as Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Market (HKEX), Fastmarkets has learned. QME made its debut in October this year when it launched a spot domestic alumina price. But liquidity has been slow to build up and few a...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week. Read More