Good morning from Fastmarkets MB's offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Tuesday November 20.Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly little changed to weaker during Asian morning trading on Tuesday, with the complex stymied by renewed concerns surrounding the United States-China trade spat.Check Fastmarket MB's live futures report here. Man...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
Robert Morris, Vale's sales and marketing director for the base metals business, is retiring from the company at the end of 2018, according to an internal note from the miner to its managers. Brent Rochon, who is vice president for marketing and sales of copper and intermediates, and nickel for Europe and Americas regions, will take on Morris' duties in the interim. Morris has worked for Vale sinc...Read More
At least nine major copper smelters globally are planning plant maintenance in the first half of 2019, leading to an increase in the availability of copper concentrates in an already well-supplied market.Like most major industrial plants, copper smelters shut for maintenance every two to three years to complete essential repairs on facilities such as furnaces, which are otherwise ar...Read More
Steel traders in Asia have been feverishly short-selling their cargoes in recent weeks due to the bearish sentiment in the Asian market, with back-to-back offers for steel products often accompanied by short-selling offers at a wide discount to mill cargoes.These discounts can reach up to $15 per tonne, which indicate the additional price falls that traders expect when short-selling cargoes. Buyer...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close of trading on Tuesday November 20, with broad risk-off sentiment emerging across global commodity markets amid continued trade tensions and a fresh one-year low in oil futures.Both zinc and lead futures were the worst affected, falling by around 2% over the afternoon, to below their respective support levels at $2,600 p...Read More
The London Metal Exchange is planning to launch a lithium contract in the second quarter of 2019 to meet growing demand from the electric vehicle industry, Fastmarkets learned during Asia Copper Week in Shanghai. The contract, announced as part of the exchange's Strategic Pathway in September 2017, will be settled against an index price, with Fastmarkets MB's lithium spot price index one of those...Read More
The Comex copper price continued lower in in the US morning on Tuesday November 20, with the rising dollar pressuring the entire commodities sector.The copper price for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 3.25 cents to $2.7665 per lb."We continue to expect a strong rebound in copper prices by the end of 2018 principally because investors are likely to...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
Chrome ore and alloy prices continued to trend lower in China on Friday November 16 on thin market activities and lingering weak sentiment, while the European and US markets continued to suffer from increased seller competition amid subdued demand conditions. UG2, charge chrome prices soften on thin trading, bearish sentimentChinese domestic market holds flat amid inactivityKorean prices slide on...Read More
Turkish steel mills have continued to hold back from making deep-sea scrap purchases due to fear of product outflow from China, sources said on Tuesday November 20.Chinese rebar is widely expected by market participants to be offered in increasing amounts in the near term while its domestic market softens. This will soon affect prices all over the world, including Turkish scrap import prices,...Read More
The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Wednesday November 21.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close of...Read More
The Comex copper price continued lower in in the US morning on Tuesday November 20, with the rising dollar pressuring the entire commodities sector.The copper price for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 3.25 cents to $2.7665 per lb."We continue to expect a strong rebound in copper prices by the end of 2018 principally because investors are likely to...Read More
Copper prices will recover if the trade war between the United States and China does not escalate at next week's G20 summit, the head of China commodities strategy from Citi Group said during a panel discussion at Asia Copper Week on November 14. The impact of the US-China trade war has been priced into current copper prices, according to Citi Group's Tracy Liao who also took a cautiously optimist...Read More
Vedanta unit Sterlite Copper intends to ship a portion of its copper concentrate inventories accrued before it declared force majeure in April, sources with knowledge of the situation told Fastmarkets. Sterlite has offered 15,000 tonnes of Cerro Verde copper concentrates for November or December shipment, several sources privy to the dealings said. The company's Tuticorin smelter was shut dow...Read More
Spot copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) dropped in mid-November, with traders starting to purchase units for the first quarter of 2019 at lower numbers. Fastmarkets' copper concentrate index dropped by $0.60 per tonne / 0.6 cents per lb to $86.80 / 8.68 cents on Thursday November 15. Spot market trade was limited ahead of and during Asia Copper Week in Shanghai where b...Read More
Robert Morris, Vale's sales and marketing director for the base metals business, is retiring from the company at the end of 2018, according to an internal note from the miner to its managers. Brent Rochon, who is vice president for marketing and sales of copper and intermediates, and nickel for Europe and Americas regions, will take on Morris' duties in the interim. Morris has worked for Vale sinc...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, hot-dipped galvanized coil, pre-painted galvanized iron, steel plate, steel sheet and other flat steel products. Latest transactions: HRC, CRC, HDGHot-rolled coilChina, export, hot-rolled coil, offered at $540-550 per tonne cfr, to Saudi Arabia.Ukraine, export, hot-rolled coil, traded at $520-530 per...Read More
Flat steel import prices in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have tumbled over the past seven days by $20-55 per tonne due to weak demand and lower offer and deal prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday November 20.UAEAbout 5,000 tonnes of hot-rolled coil (HRC) from Ukraine was booked at $520-530 per tonne cfr.Chinese material, meanwhile, was on offer to the UAE at $510-520 per...Read More