China's ferrous futures tanked in the early hours of morning trading on Thursday October 25 but regained some strength before the end of the session.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange January rebar: 4,207 yuan ($606) per tonne, up 42 yuan per tonneJanuary hot rolled coil: 3,940 yuan per tonne, up 27 yuan per tonneDalian Commodity Exchange January iron ore: 532.50 yu...Read More
Import prices for stainless steel in East Asia largely softened over the past week amid reduced offers from most exporters coupled with a lack of improvement in regional demand.Fastmarkets MB's import price assessment for 304 stainless 2mm trimmed cold-rolled coil was $2,060-2,140 per tonne cif East Asia for the week ended Wednesday October 24, narrowing from $2,050-2,150 per tonne cif a week earl...Read More
The production cost of rebar will increase from November 1 with the implementation of China's revised rebar standard GB-T 1499.2-2018, but spot prices are not expected to rise accordingly.Production cost risesThe revised standards prohibits steel mills from using a water-quenching process in rebar production to meet the new yield and strength requirements. "This kind of rebar rusts easily and is n...Read More
Turkey produced 27.981 million tonnes of crude steel in January-September 2018, a 0.86% increase on the 27.742 million tonnes produced in the corresponding period in 2017, according to the Turkish Steel Producers Association (T???oeD). In September, crude steel production was 2.80 million tonnes, a 5.90% year-on-year fall. The country produced 9.416 million tonnes of slab in January-September, up...Read More
Major Chinese steel mills raised their crude steel output slightly in early October.China Iron & Steel Association (Cisa) members produced crude steel at an average rate of 1.9874 million tonnes per day during the first 10 days of the month, up 0.13% from 1.9848 millon tonnes per day during the last 10...Read More
Buyers in the export market for pig iron from the Commonwealth of Independent States have been keeping an eye on the United States, the world's largest consumer of merchant pig iron.Fastmarkets' export price assessment for high-manganese pig iron from the CIS was $360-375 per tonne fob Black Sea on October 25, widening upward from $360-370 per tonne a week earlier.Once the price of hot-rolled coil...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed at the close of trading on Thursday October 25, with continued strength in the US dollar index capping gains, while stronger earnings reports and a broadly positive European Central Bank outlook safeguarded commodity investments. Over the afternoon, the three-month nickel price largely under-performed amid slight downticks in aluminium and...Read More
Import prices for steel scrap in Turkey remained flat while rumors of bookings in the deep-sea market made by the country's steel producers were unconfirmed on Thursday October 25.Reports of two deep-sea cargo trades came to light but market participants were unable to confirm significant details.A steel mill in the Marmara region was reported to have booked a Baltic Sea cargo of...Read More
The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Friday October 26.Base metal prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close of trading on Thursday October 25 amid continued strength in the US dollar index, while stronger earnings reports and a broadly positive European Central Bank outlook safeguarded commodity investments. Read more in our live futures repo...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Thursday October 25.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed during morning trading on Thursday October 25, with bearish third-quarter earnings reports prompting sharp sell-offs in the Asian and European equity markets, while global trade tensions are deterring commodity investment.Edging lower over...Read More
Good morning from Fastmarkets MB's offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Thursday October 25.Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mostly down during Asian morning trading on Thursday after the dollar strengthened once more, with only lead prices rising due to continued supply tightness in China.Check Fastmarket MB's live futures report here. The...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
Supply disruption, strong demand, multi-year prices highs and subsequent supply responses have meant for another year of price swings and volatility across many of the minors metals, ores and ferro-alloys markets. And now, with LME Week and contract negotiating season coming around again, players must contend with Trump administration tariffs on imports of a number of China produced goods, includi...Read More
The production cost of rebar will increase from November 1 with the implementation of China's revised rebar standard GB-T 1499.2-2018, but spot prices are not expected to rise accordingly.Production cost risesThe revised standards prohibits steel mills from using a water-quenching process in rebar production to meet the new yield and strength requirements. "This kind of rebar rusts easily and is n...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed at the close of trading on Thursday October 25, with continued strength in the US dollar index capping gains, while stronger earnings reports and a broadly positive European Central Bank outlook safeguarded commodity investments. Over the afternoon, the three-month nickel price largely under-performed amid slight downticks in aluminium and...Read More
Comex copper prices were little changed Thursday morning in the US with a stronger dollar capping any positive momentum. The copper price for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange inched up 0.10 cents to $2.7585 lb. "While we forecast a stronger copper price by the end of the year, the fragile macro backdrop poses downside risks to our outlook," Fastmar...Read More
Tight supply of Australian iron ore continued to support the market for the steelmaking raw material on Thursday October 25, with the benchmark 62% Fe index rising above $76 per tonne cfr China.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $76.04 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up by $1.31 per tonne.MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $75.07 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up by $1.31 per tonne.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $...Read More
China's month-on-month new electric vehicles (NEV) sales rebounded in August after month-on-month declines in June and July. The drop in sales between May and June was the first drop since September 2016, but Fastmarkets MB had expected Chinese NEV sales to dip temporarily after the June subsidy changes came into effect because consumers and NEV manufacturers would have to adjust to the new subsid...Read More
Seaborne pig iron has become relatively competitive versus ferrous scrap over the past year in most regions, and China is no exception. As the first chart below illustrates, the gap between the MBR's proxy for imported pig iron price in China and the Metal Bulletin's Chinese domestic heavy melt scrap price assessment had shrunk by late 2017. The premium averaged $17 per tonne this year to date, co...Read More